(mvo 


ERICAN 


By  Ralph  Davol 


-'•rip 


TO  FRIENDS  IN  PAGEANTRY 


WATER  COLUK   STCUV    BV   CHAKLLS    !I.  ilEl'HENS    FUH   WASHINGTON    AT   GRAVS   OAKDENb   IN    PAOEANT   OF    I'UlLAL'ELi'lllA 


A  HANDBOOK  OF  AMERICAN  PAGEANTRY 


BY   RALPH   DA VOL 


DAVOL   PUBLISHING    COMPANY,    TAUNTON,    MASSACHUSETTS 


•  —i-fW  -—*»-. 


Copyright,  1^14 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 
Part  One. 


Introduction  .       -       - 

The  PhUosophy  of  Pageantry 

As  One  of  the  Fine  Arts 

As  An  Educational  Factor 

As  a  Nursery  of  Patriotism 

From  the  Sociologist's  Standpoint 

As  a   Moral  Agent 


-  Page  11 

-  Page  17 

-  Page  41 

-  Page  73 

-  Page  87 

-  Page  99 

-  Page  115 


The  Technique  of  Pageantry 
The  Subject 


Committees 
Publicity 


Part  Two. 
Page  133     Dialogue 
Page  139     Costumes 


The   Site Page  145     Music 


Page  151     Dancing 
Page  157     Presentation 
Extracts  from  Librettos        -       -        Page  207 


Page  163 
Page  169 
Page  183 
Page  193 
Page  201 


UST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Photographs  jrom  American  Pageants. 


Tournament  at  Meschianza  during  Revolution,  Philadelphia,    ------  Cover 

Washington  at  Gray's  Gardens,  Philadelphia,  ...----         Frontispiece 

Pilgrims  at  Prayer,  Taunton,  Massachusetts,      --------  Title  Page 

Page  Page 

Spirit  of  the  Commimity  Pageant,                   9  Erasmus  in  Coimcil,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  43 

Landing  of  Pilgrims,  Taunton,  Mass.,           10  Spirits  and  Indians,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  44 

Gold  Deposed  by  Love,  Masque  of  St.  Louis,  15  Frieze  of  Prophets,  Richmond,  Va.,  44 

Scenes  from  Mission  Pageant,  San  Gab-  Chariot  Race,   Nashville,  Tenn.,  47 

riel,  Cal.,                                                     16  Pageant  Grounds,  Medway,  Mass.,  48 

"Dreams",  McDowell  Pageant,  Peter-  Processional,  Hudson-Fulton  Pageant,  51 

boro,  N.  H.,                                               19  March  Past,  Evansville,  Illinois,  52 

Spanish  Soldiers,  Tampa,  Fla.,                       20  March  Past,  Evansville,  Illinois,  53 

Persian  Pageant,  Brookline,  Mass.,               25  Night  Pageant,  Detroit,  Mich.,  54 

Lafayette's  Visit,  Lancaster,  Mass.,              26  Mother  Goose,  Greensboro,  N.  C.,  57 

"Peace",  Suffrage  Pageant,  Washington,  Old  Woman  in  Shoe,  Greensboro,  N.  €.,  57 

D.  C.,                                                         29  Reflections,  Baltimore,  Md.,  58 

Grand  Finale,  Philadelphia,                          30  Dancers  with  Balloons,  Washington,  D.  C.,    61 

Blennerhassett's  Decision,  Marietta,  Playground  Pageant,  Chicago,  61 

Ohio,                                                           33  Court  of  King  George,  Taunton,  Mass.,  62 

Old-Time  Punishments,  Northampton,  Kitchen  Spirits,  Eliot,  Me.,  65 

Mass.,                                                         34  Declaration  of  Independence,  Charlottes- 
Franklin  at  Court  of  Louis  XIV.,  Phila-  ville,  Va.  66 

delphia,                                                       39  View  of  Audience,  Erasmus  Hall,  Brook- 
Mississippi  Symbolized,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,       39  lyn,  N.  Y.,  69 
Don  de  Dieu,  Quebec,  Can.,                          40  View  of  Pageant  Performers,  Rock  Hill, 
Half-Moon,  Hudson-Fulton  Pageant,            40  S.  C,  70 


LIST  OP  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Page 


View  of  Pageant  Performers,  Rock  HiD, 

S.C, 
Pageant  in  Parade  Grounds,  St.  Augus- 
tine, Fla., 
Pageant  in  Parade  Grounds,  St.  Augus- 
tine, Fla., 
Pageant  of  the  Year,  Brookline,  Mass., 
Pageant  of  Apollo,  Berkeley,  Cal., 
Pageant  Grounds,  Taunton,  Mass., 
Pageant  of  Education,  Boston  Normal 

School, 
Bringing  the  Wassail  Bowl,  Fitchburg, 

Mass., 
Morris  Dancers,  Louisville,  Ky., 
Colonial  Wedding,  Northampton,  Mass., 
Mother  Love  and  Patriotism,  Lawrence, 

Mass., 
Surrender  of  Burgoyne,  Saratoga,  N.  Y., 
Home  from  the  War,  Warwick,  Mass., 
Grand  Army,  Brattleboro,  Vermont, 
Lincoln  Admitting  Nevada,  Reno, 
French  Voyageurs,  Winona,  Minn., 
Catamount  Tavern,  Bennington,  Vt., 
Jesuit  Missionary,  Taunton,  Mass., 
Swinging  Round  the  Circle,  Oshkosh,  Wis.,  102 
Smoking  Peace  Pipe,  Darien,  Conn.,  107 

Pioneers  Going  West,  Deerfield,  Mass.,      108 
Dance  of  "Bats,"  Salem,  Mass.,  113 


71 
70 

71 

72 
75 
76 

79 

80 
80 
83 

83 
84 
89 
90 
95 
96 
101 
101 


Landing  of  Norsemen,  Arlington,  Mass., 
Paul  Revere's  Ride,  Arlington,  Mass., 
Court  of  Polydectes,  Baltimore,  Md., 
Pageant  of  Hay-making,  Eliot,  Me., 
Honors  for  Washington,  Oxford,  Mass., 
Gosnold  Exploring  Marthas  Vineyard, 
Spinning  Squaw,  Boston,  Mass., 
Phyrric  Dance,  Millbury,  Mass., 
Landing  of  Columbus,  Taunton,  Mass., 
Columbus  at  Court,  Johnson,  Vt., 
Exit  of  Mexicans,  Claremont,  Cal., 
"Mutton  Chop"  Indians,  Croton,  N.  Y., 
Battle  of  Ships,  Machias,  Me., 
Japanese  Folk  Dance,  Cincinnati,  0., 
Washington  Crossing  Delaware,  Newark, 

N.  J., 
Rehearsal  of  Dance,  Cape  Cod,  Mass., 
Ante-Bellum  Coach,  Tupelo,  Miss., 
Locomotive,  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt., 
Cover  Designs,  Various  Pageants, 


Advertising  Designs,  Various  Pageants, 

Poster,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 

Devil   and    New   England    Conscience, 

Taunton,  Mass., 
Solo  Dancer,  Peterboro,  N.  H., 
Pantalettes,  Indianapolis,  Ind., 


Page 
114 
114 
119 
120 
120 
125 
125 
126 
131 
132 
137 
137 
138 
143 

144 
149 
150 
150 
155 
156 
161 
162 
167 

168 
168 
173 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Page 

Faun  and  Nymph,  Meriden,  N.  H.,  173 

Poster,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  174 

Dutch  Market-Day,  Croton,  N.  Y.,  179 

William  Penn  and  Indians,  Philadelphia,  180 

Treaty  with  Indians,  Taunton,  Mass.,  185 

Raising  Flag  on  School,  Colraine,  Mass.,  186 

Knights  of  St.  John,  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt.,  186 

English  Carole,  Northampton,  Mass.,  191 

Dancing  Minuet,  Bennington,  Vt.,  192 
Dance  of  Cannon  Crackers,  Medway,  Mass.,192 

French  Pavane,  Quebec,  Can.,  197 

Merry  Shepherdesses,  Rock  Hill,  S.  C,  197 

Greek  Dancers,  Boston,  Mass.,  198 

Floating  Island,  Lake  Champlain,  Vt.,  203 

Pastoral  Scene,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  204 


Page 

Dance  with  Garlands,  Oxford,  Mass.,  204 

Gov.  Hutchinson's  Coach,  Milton,  Mass.,  209 

Lost  Wife  Found,  Thetford,  Vt.,  210 

Sleepy  Hollow  Legend,  New  York,  215 

Indians  en  Deshabille,  Claremont,  Cal.,  216 

May  Festival,  Central  Park,  New  York,  221 

Franklin  with  Kite,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y,,  222 

A  Sudden  Shower,  New  York,  227 

Knights  of  Economy,  Boston,  Mass.,  228 

Behind  the  Scenes,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  228 

Robin  Redbreasts,  Meriden,  N.  H.,  233 
Indians  with  Banner,  University,  North 

Dakota,  233 
Sancho  Panza,  Mt.  Holyoke  Seminary, 

South  Hadley,  Mass.,  234 


8 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  COMMUNITY  PAGEANT 
SHOULD  SPRING  FROM  THE  SWEETNESS,  CHARM  AND  SANCTITY  OF  THE  HOME. 


v;;yf^ifi| 


PILGRIMSCOMINGASHORK  SINGING  THE  OLD  ENGLISH    HVMN    ■H-.UhRAl.    .s  1  RLE  I-  \S  1  l.L    llul.l)    A\    AlUIENCE 

IN    RAPT    ATTENTION. 


PROLOGUE. 


Laugh,  for  the  time  is  brief,  a  thread  the  length  of  a  span, 
Laugh,  and  be  proud  to  belong  to  the  old  proud  pageant  of  man. 

John  Masefield. 

MAP  of  the  United  States  dotted  at  every  point  where  a  pageant 
has  blossomed  during  the  last  decade  might  be  as  thickly-speck- 
led as  a  fertile  meadow  in  the  season  of  dandelions.  With  charac- 
teristic impetuousness  America  rushes  headlong  into  this  communal 

pastime  obeying  the  impulsive  force  inherent  in  a  new  affection. 

Whether  the  pageant  is  an  ephemeral  fad  or  a  permanent  acquisition  to  the  Arts  at  least 
it  has  grown  with  the  rapidity  of  Jonah's  gourd.  A  discussion,  in  so  few  pages  of  a  theme 
so  expansive  and  kaleidoscopic,  must  necessarily  be  very  incomplete  and  fragmentary. 
The  pageant  is  a  gem  of  many  facets;  and  invites  examination  through  numerous 
avenues  of  thought.  The  writer  of  this  book,  having  covered  as  newspaper  correspond- 
ent a  number  of  these  community  festivals  in  various  States,  has  collected  some  of  his 
notes  and  observations  on  the  psychology,  structural  composition  and  by-products  of  the 
pageant,  as  a  slight  contribution  to  the  current  debate  upon  the  question.  Perhaps  he 
should  apologize  for  inflicting  upon  an  innocent  public  what  may  seem  like  a  doctrinal 
sermon  on  a  subject   having  no  accepted   American    traditions   and    as  yet  in  the 


11 


Prologue 

bread-and-butter  stage  of  development.  The  writer  anticipates  that  many  will  differ 
widely  from  his  views  and  that  other  handbooks  will  be  issued  by  persons  who  have 
specialized  in  this  work.  He  surely  does  not  presume  to  set  up  as  a  dogmatic  authority, 
and  merely  avails  himself  of  the  privilege,  allowed  to  every  citizen  of  a  free  country,  of 
expressing  his  opinions  (both  favorable  and  unfavorable)  as  frankly,  sincerely  and 
clearly  as  possible,  always  bearing  in  mind  that  it  is  much  easier  to  criticise  than  to 
create.  But  what  is  the  use  of  having  opinions  if  you  don't  express  them?  That  is  the 
pertinent  point. 

Pageantry  is  expression — a  visible  manifestation  of  the  community  soul,  and 
should  not  be  simply  a  sensational  exhibition.  Through  this  milieu  not  only  the  collective 
community,  but  each  individual  member,  finds  opportunity  for  self-expression.  The  same 
laws  of  expression  govern  the  race,  the  nation,  the  tribe,  the  family,  the  individual.  Na- 
ture makes  half  the  man;  expression  is  the  other  half.  We  are  attracted  to  persons  for 
two  reasons :  Because  of  the  physical  appearance  (which  is  the  affair  of  Dame  Nature) ; 
and  because  they  have  expressed  well  what  we  have  felt  but  were  unable  to  express  (and 
this  is  largely  a  matter  of  personal  acquirement) .  Expression  is  that  part  of  the  man 
which  lives  after  him  and  binds  him  to  the  great  mass  of  humanity.  We  like  Shakespeare 
because  he  expressed  himself  so  well  through  the  medium  of  words,  Turner  through  color, 

12 


Prologue 

Franklin  through  philosophy,  Edison  through  his  electrical  wonders.  Expression  is  power; 
that  is,  the  sending  out  of  impressions  we  have  received.  A  thousand  feel  an  impression 
where  one  can  properly  express  it.  This  ability  may  be  acquired  through  right  teaching 
and  practice  and  concentration.  To  this  end,  the  pageant  is  a  training  school  in  which 
a  person  may  improve  himself  in  conveying  his  thoughts  and  feelings  through  words, 
tones  and  action.  The  pageant  on  its  dramatic  side  arouses  emotion  and  will,  and  tends 
to  evolve  individual  personality.  Pageantry  is  opportunity  for  self-discovery.  It  typ- 
ifies in  a  broad  sense  the  love  of  life  itself,  and  should  stand,  as  does  the  American  mag- 
azine "Life",  for  the  finer  old-fashioned  sentiment  and  pictures queness  and  shun  screech- 
ing modernism. 

The  illustrations  are  selected  from  a  thousand  photographs,  each  one  chosen  for 
a  special  illustrative  purpose  or  bearing  upon  the  theme.  Some  of  the  reproductions  are 
from  scenes  which  do  not  conform  to  the  definition  of  a  pageant  given  in  this  book,  but 
which  were  commonly  and  locally  known  as  such.  When  a  pageant  was  written  by  one 
person  and  staged  by  another,  the  name  of  the  former  is  given  because  the  author  usually 
works  for  pleasure,  the  director  for  money.  The  writer  of  this  book  contemplates  issuing 
a  larger,  more  comprehensive  work  on  pageantry,  and  would  be  pleased  to  communicate 
with  persons  having  attractive  or  unusual  photographs  for  sale. 

13 


Prologue 

Acknowledgments  are  hereby  made  for  the  loan  of  photographs  by  The  Ladies' 
Home  Journal,  Philadelphia  Ledger,  New  York  Times,  Boston  Herald,  St.  Augustine 
Record,  Playground  Magazine,  Children's  Home  of  Cincinnati.  The  writer  is  under 
obligations  to  many  friends  who  have  assisted  him  by  an  interchange  of  ideas,  many 
of  which  have  been  embodied  in  this  volume. 

Ralph  Davol, 

Taunton,  Massachusetts. 


14 


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RIAUING  THIi  STARVED  SOI.niKRS  OKTHI':  DON  CASPAR  DF.  PORTOI.A  KXPICnillON. 


INDIAN  SI;N   DANCK  AT  SPANISH   FIKSTA  IN   MISSION  PAGKANT  AT  SAN  GAIiRIKl,.  C  All  I  <  )RN  I  A,  BV  JOHN  G.  McCORIATV 

IHIS    PAGKANT    WAS    GI\  KN    DAILY    FOR    SK\l:RAI.    MONTHS 


PART  ONE. 

The  Philosophy  of  Pageantry. 

Out  of  the  mists  that  round  thee  lie,  come  forth,  0  Spirit  of  years  gone  by; 

Thy  magic  wand  wave  o'er  the  scene,  transform  it  to  a  castle  green. 
Where  happy  folk,  in  pageant  gay,  make  old-time  English  holiday. 


Spencer. 


ODERN  pageantry  aims  to  increase  the  world's  store  of  happiness 
by  interpreting  the  meaning  of  human  life  and  by  bringing  art  and 
beauty  into  the  minds  of  all  the  people.  Serving  as  a  measure  of 
man's  forward  movement  by  comparison  of  vanished  days  it  keeps 
the  conscience  of  the  race  alive  and  holds  attention  on  the  mysteries 
of  the  precious  gift  of  existence.  Dedicated  to  the  service  of  the  commonalty  it  marks  the 
awakening  of  the  people  to  self-assertion  in  their  recreations,  just  as  they  are  rising  to  take 
business  and  politics  into  their  own  hands — to  participate  in  their  own  entertainment,  not 
merely  pay  to  see  professional  actors.  As  a  manifestation  of  the  lyrical  and  emotional  im- 
pulses in  this  world  of  the  senses  pageantry  allows  free  play  to  mystic  symbolism  in  which 
aspiring  souls  delight.    The  community  consciousness  is  thus  expressed  ui  visible  form. 

Considering  the  etymology  of  the  word,  we  find  in  the  14th  century  "pagyn" 
without  the  excrescent  "t".  Latin  correspondent  pagina,  i.  e.,  page:  As  of  a  book,  or  a 


17 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

division  of  a  play — a  scene.  The  senses  in  which  the  word  came  to  be  later  used,  viz:  Stage, 
scaffold,  or  an  act  played  on  a  platform,  seem  a  natural  development.  Tooke,  the  arche- 
ologist,  says  the  word  is  present  participle  "pacceand",  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  "paccean", 
meaning:  To  draw  by  false  appearances  or  by  imitation.  He  traces  the  evolution — pac- 
ceand, pacheant,  pageant.  During  Elizabethan  days,  the  word  universally  denoted  some- 
thing empty,  ephemeral,  meretricious — a  showy  thing  lacking  durability.  As  human  nature 
runs,  probably  no  pageant  of  the  present  day  was  ever  given  at  which  a  misanthropic 
preadamite  was  not  found  on  the  outskirts  of  the  gathering  unreservedly  proclaiming  that 
he  "wouldn't  give  two  cents  to  see  the  whole  blamed  mess  of  foolishness". 

The  best  modern  pronunciation  makes  but  two  syllables  of  the  word,  giving  the 
first  syllable  a  short  "a".  The  pronunciation  "payjent"  is  considered  rather  bourgeois. 
That  the  word  has  been  abused  and  overworked,  of  late,  no  one  will  question.  One 
leading  newspaper  has  forbidden  its  further  use  in  conspicuous  headlines.  An  enterpris- 
ing philologist  would  confer  a  benefit  upon  the  devotees  of  pageantry  by  coining  a  new 
word  and  set  of  subordinate  generic  terms  exclusively  for  this  art.  Journalists  are  apply- 
ing "pageant"  indiscriminately  to  celebrations  as  widely  different  as  the  Bohemian 
Club  High  Jinks  of  San  Francisco,  Pasadena  Rose  Fiesta,  Montreal  Ice  Carnival,  South- 
ern Mardi  Gras  antics,  elephantine  Durbar,  fairy-like  Sakura  Festival,  Lord  Mayor's 

18 


•■DREAMS' 


FROM    PAGEANT   I MTERPRETING    McDOWELL'S   MUSIC.    PEIERBURO.    N     H..      BY    PROF   GEuKUE    P.    BAKER. 
THE    BEAUT\    OF  THE   SETTING   WAS   ENHANCED    BY   A   VIEW   OF   MT.   MONADNOCK. 


SPANISH    SOI.DIKRS    AT    CASPARI  I.I.A    I'AGF.ANT.    TAMPA.    FLORIDA.    BY    MRS     R.    A     i-.i.IIS.       A   PLATOON    OK  TROOPS 
Willi    CORSLI   r,    MORION.  MAI.BKRI)    AND   JACKKOOTS   IS    VKRVMARITM.. 


The  Philosophy  of  Pageantry 

Processions,  the  Great  White  Way,  colored  porters'  Masked  Ball,  a  Governor's  state  fu- 
neral, Easter  Millinery  Parade  or  suffragette  demonstration.  Therefore  our  first  consider- 
ation is :  What  should  constitute  a  pageant  according  to  best  current  usage?  No  two 
directors  could  unite  in  a  common  definition.  Purists  and  extremists,  to  whom  the  pageant 
is  a  fetish,  may  easily  be  drawn  into  ardent  and  protracted  controversy  upon  this  question. 
Modern  pageantry  is  the  rehabilitation  of  an  art  which  was  born  when  the  pea- 
cock began  to  crop  out  in  the  human  family.  If  we  question  history  to  ascertain  its 
traditions,  we  find  that  the  moment  the  race  had  accumulated  enough  of  a  past  to 
glorify  it,  the  time  was  ripe  for  this  folk  festival.  Bible  days  are  replete  with  material  for 
historic  pageants.  The  quick  preception  of  Louis  Parker,  who  was  dubbed  "Grand-Pag- 
eant-Master-Extraordinary-to-the-British -nation",  has  seized  upon  such  an  episode  as 
Joseph  in  Egypt;  another  uses  David,  the  Shepherd  King;  still  another  has  pageantized 
the  story  of  Noah's  Ark.  Aside  from  sacred  history,  we  find  potential  pageant  material 
in  the  processions  on  the  Assyrian  and  Egyptian  temples;  in  the  frieze  of  the  Parthenon; 
the  Dionysia  of  Greece;  the  Roman  Satui-nalia,  the  Lupercalian  sports  of  the  Circus  Maxi- 
mus  and  cruel  orgies  of  the  Coliseum;  in  the  fetes  of  France  and  fiestas  of  the  plaza  del 
toros  in  Spain.  The  frescoes  of  Florentine  chapels  record  many  beautiful  Italian  pag- 
eants. High  Mass  is  a  spectacular  periodic  pageant — the  humbler  classes  like  to  see  their 

21 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

religion  as  well  as  feel  it.  The  Roman  triumphal  procession  with  foreign  captives  shack- 
led to  the  chariots — imposing  spolia  opima, — was  a  processional  pageant  par  excellencef 
which  added  pith  and  meaning  to  the  proud  boast:  I  am  a  Romian  Citizen.  The  Ro- 
man loved  his  theatre,  but  loved  the  amphitheatre  better,  and  the  circus  best  of  all. 
The  theatre  accommodated  five  to  ten  thousand,  the  amphitheatre  fifty  thousand,  the 
circus  a  hundred  thousand.  As  a  dramatic  production,  the  American  pageant  stands 
relatively  in  the  position  of  the  Roman  circus. 

During  the  Renaissance,  when  society  began  to  take  on  a  semblance  of  civilized 
order  after  the  chaos  of  the  Dark  Ages,  church  and  court  provided  popular  enter- 
tainment. Half  the  days  of  the  year  seem  to  have  been  festal  days;  the  other  half,  days 
of  prayer  and  repentance  for  follies  of  the  day  before.  Religious  rituals  were  formulated; 
the  age  of  chivalry  brought  jousts  and  tournaments.  Knights  Templars  in  quest  of  the 
Holy  Grail,  the  career  of  Charlemagne,  rise  of  the  Ottoman  empire,  the  Canterbury  Pil- 
grimage, Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  Columbus  at  the  Court  of  Isabella,  are  incidents  rich 
in  suggestions  for  pageantry.  From  the  twelfth  to  the  sixteenth  centuries,  the  forerunner 
of  the  modern  pageant  flourished  in  England  in  the  form  of  miracle  and  morality  plays. 
These  "mysteries",  first  performed  by  the  priesthood  in  pilgrimages  to  holy  shrines,  were 
later  taken  up  by  the  common  people  as  a  secular  diversion.    They  were  often  enacted 

22 


The  Philosophy  of  Pageantry 

by  guilds  or  trading  companied  in  gratulation  to  royalty,  or  some  local  dignitary,  and  dealt 
With  Bible  history  from  Creation  to  Judgment  Day.  Sharp  in  his  "Dissertations  on  Early 
Pageants  or  Mysteries",  writes: 

The  maner  of  these  playes  weare,  every  Company  had  his  pagiant,  or  parte,  which  pagiantes 
weare  high  scafoldes  with  2  rowmes,  a  higher  and  a  lower,  upon  4  wheels. 

The  upper  room  was  the  stage,  and  the  lower,  the  dressing-room.  These  floats, 
as  we  should  call  them  today,  followed  one  another  over  a  pre-arranged  route,  but  instead 
of  moving  steadily  along,  each  float  made  a  stop  in  a  street  or  town  long  enough  to  enact 
the  scene,  and  was  then  wheeled  to  the  next  stopping  place.  The  fii'st  float  gave  the  first 
chapter  of  the  story;  the  second,  the  second  chapter;  and  so  on  to  the  end— different 
parts  of  the  pageant  were  thus  being  given  at  different  places  at  the  same  timxe.  The  story 
Was  told  largely  by  mummery,  though  the  actors  sometimes  came  down  from  the  scaf- 
fold to  "rage  in  the  stretes."  Some  rode  horseback.  Costumes  were  tawdry  and  of  con- 
ventional forms.  Divin-e  personages  were  identified  by  gilt  hair  and  tinsel  beards;  demons 
by  hideous  false  heads;  angels  by  gold  skin  and  wings.  The  souls  of  departed  heroes  were 
represented  by  black  or  white  coats  according  to  their  supposed  destiny.  Mythological 
characters  and  abstract   ideas  of  patriotism  and  virtue,  were  later    represented  by 

23 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

allegorical  pageants  which  in  England  were  always  introduced  by  formal,  spoken  pro- 
logues. In  medieval  days,  Queen  Margaret  at  Coventry  quaintly  writes  that  she  saw 
"alle  the  pageants  playde  sav  Domesday  which  might  not  be  played  for  lack  of  daye". 
The  earliest  pageant  in  which  there  are  speaking  parts  mentioned  was  presented  at  the 
triumphal  entry  of  Henry  VI.  into  London  (1432).  At  Anne  Boleyn's  coronation  (1533), 
the  pageant  contained  figures  of  Apollo  and  the  Muses.  When,  in  the  Elizabethan 
age,  Shakespeai-e's  plays  appeared,  they  could  with  difficulty  compete  for  public  favor 
with  these  old  itinerant  pageants  so  firmly  gripped  in  popular  fancy.  Walker,  the 
antiquarian,  says:  "When  Mr.  Garrick  exhibited  a  show  in  honor  of  Shakespeare  (1760), 
it  was  universally  called  a  'padjunt' ".  The  great  master's  mind  was  teeming  in  pageant- 
ry of  finest  imaginative  type.  In  the  elaborate  Lord  Mayor's  Pageant  (1631)  the 
town  of  London  was  represented  as  a  beautiful  woman  riding  on  a  white  charger 
attended  by  other  cities  in  the  Kingdom,  as  York,  Oxford,  Westminster,  each  imperson- 
ated by  young  gii-ls  wearing  the  escutcheons  of  their  cities.  Under  the  Stuart  regime, 
rollicking  masques  superseded  the  morality  plays,  to  the  grave  alarm  of  grim  Non-con- 
formists who  fled  the  ungodly  gaieties  to  found  New  England, 

While  the  pageant  as  an  expression  of  fondness  for  sensationalism  took  root  early 
in  the  human  mind,  its  identity  has  undergone  a  series  of  national  modifications  although 

24 


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"WELCOME  TO  LAFAYETTE."     PAGEANT  AT  LANCASTER.  MASSACHUSETTS.     BY  MRS.  E.  J.  H.  (ONES.     LAFAYETTE'S  VISIT  IS 

A  VALUABLE  ASSET  FOR  WRITERS  OF  AMKRICW  PAGEANTS. 


The  Philosophy  of  Pageantry 

the  modern  version  preserves  many  features  of  the  historic  prototype.  The  essential 
difference  between  the  old  English  and  modern  English  pageant  is,  that  the  former  was 
religious  and  frankly  unreal,  while  the  latter  aims  to  present  secular  history,  and  attempts 
to  reproduce  the  core  of  the  original  occasion  in  realistic  form.  English  pageants  of  re- 
cent years  have  been  more  resplendent,  more  carefully  wrought  out,  than  those  in 
America— English  History  has  been  longer  in  the  making  and  affords  richer  material. 
The  history  of  America  is  romantic  rather  than  classic,  yet  abounding  in  many  ele- 
ments of  dramatic  and  human  interest.  The  germ  of  pageantry  is  manifest  in  the 
California  Forest  Plays,  the  annual  Oregon  Round-up,  Mountain  and  Plain  Festival  of 
Denver,  the  Arizona  Snake-Dance,  Frolics  of  the  Artists'  Guild  of  Chicago,  New  Or- 
leans Mardi  Gras  fete,  Ponce  de  Leon  Fiesta  at  Florida,  Veiled  Prophets  of  St.  Louis,  the 
egg-rolling  at  the  White  House,  revels  of  the  Copley  Society  at  Boston,  the  May  Fes- 
tivals of  the  East,  and  commencement  exercises  throughout  the  country.  A  procession 
through  the  streets  of  floats,  on  which  historic  occasions  are  rigidly  impersonated  by 
"live  people  trying  to  look  like  dead  ones",  is  commonly  called  a  pageant  in  America,  for 
example  at  Philadelphia,  or  the  Hudson-Fulton  celebration.  This  method  undoubtedly 
reaches  more  people,  but  lacks  the  charm  of  background,  dialogue  and  human  action  pos- 
sible in  a  stationary  arena.      Sometimes  a   procession  crosses  a  fixed  platform,  as  at 

27 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

Lawi'ence,  Massachusetts,  or  Madison,  Wisconsin;  again  a  pageant  may  be  given  on  a  cam- 
pus, with  the  audience  seated  along  four  sides  as  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  or  Erasmus 
Hall,  Brooklyn.A  In  America  pageants  lean  more  toward  advancing  community  ideals 
than  in  England  and  especially  in  featuring  symbolism  and  prophecy. 

Two  types  of  standard  pageantry  now  in  vogue  are:  First,  what  we  may  call 
the  academic  pageant,  given  in  schools  and  colleges  as  a  means  of  visualizing  history 
and  of  Americanizing  the  foreign -born  element  of  the  population  by  a  dramatic  appeal. 

Secondly,  in  a  larger  way,  comes  the  community,  or  anniversary,  pageant.  One 
obscure  New  England  town  which  held  this  sort  of  pageant  several  years  ago  was  so  de- 
lighted that  it  has  become  an  annual  affair,  and  each  summer  the  village  pastor  pulls  on 
the  wig  and  waistcoat  of  one  of  the  early  governors  just  as  Anton  Lang  at  Oberammergau 
periodically  leaves  his  potter's  wheel  to  impersonate  the  Christ.  Dr.  Van  Dyke  has 
spoken  of  the  amateur  pageant  as  a  "trying"  affair.  The  actors  may  not  be  Bemhardts  or 
Edwin  Booths;  Pocahontas  may  be  shod  in  high-heeled  shoes;  a  glimpse  of  blue  jeans 
may  appear  beneath  King  Philip's  blanket;  folk  dancers  may  not  trip  harmoniously  as 
Genee's  corps  de  ballet;  grapes  may  be  gathered  from  willow  trees;  a  slight  historical 
anachronism  may  occur;  but  the  community  pageant,  as  a  whole,  was  never  a  com- 
plete regret,  and  never  failed  to  inspire  finer  fellowship  or  make  for  life  more  abundant. 

28 


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FINALE  OF   PAGEANT  AT  BEI.MONT    PARK.  PHILADELPHIA.     BY  DR.  ELLIS   P.  OBERHOI.TZER. 

STLPENDOUS   IT   \VA,S   SPOKEN   OF   AS   A   SERIES  OF  FINALES. 


THIS    PAGEANT   WAS   SO 


The  Philosophy  of  Pageantry 

Research  as  to  the  beginning  of  modern  American  Pageants  indicates  that  the 
spirit  was  manifest  as  early  as  1627  at  the  Merry  Mount  revels.  The  Meschianza  given 
by  Britsish  soldiers  at  Philadelphia  in  the  Revolution  was  an  old  English  pageant.  The 
first  use  of  the  name  "pageant"  the  writer  has  been  able  to  find  applied  to  a  community 
festival  in  America  was  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  (1888).  This  was  before  modem  pageants  be- 
came the  rage  in  England.  The  purpose  was  to  mark  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
city  of  Marietta  by  re-enacting  scenes  from  pioneer  settlements;  treaties  of  peace  with 
the  Red  men;  organization  of  civil  government;  the  plot  of  Blennerhasset  and  his 
scheme  of  empire.  The  affair  was  considered  of  enough  importance  to  call  out  delegates 
from  several  states  to  witness  the  production.  That  the  experiment  met  immediate  suc- 
cess this  contemporary  record  bears  witness: 

The  Historical  Pageant  had  a  more  direct  centennial  character  than  any  other  work  of  the 
Women's  Association.  The  plan  was  formed  with  careful  historical  accuracy  by  those  who  had  re- 
ceived and  faithfully  kept  from  childhood  the  local  traditions  of  the  fathers.  Selections  were  made  of 
those  known  to  resemble  the  characters  to  be  impersonated,  either  in  feature,  stature  or  other 
marked  particulars,  and  in  many  cases  from  actual  descendants.  In  many  families  there  still  existed 
precious  heirlooms  of  clothing  and  personal  ornament,  which,  for  the  occasion,  were  brought  forth  and 
worn  by  the  grandchildren  and  great  grandchildren  of  those  whose  worthy  lives  were  to  be  thus  com- 

31 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

memorated  and  illustrated.  The  Historical  Pageant  was  witnessed  by  our  Centennial  guests  on 
Tuesday  evening,  July  17.  Unusual  commendations  were  elicited,  and  the  Ohio  Centennial  Commis- 
sioners of  the  Cincinnati  Exposition  called  for  its  repetition  in  that  city  in  October  following,  where 
also  it  was  repeated  a  second  and  third  time,  with  large  and  ever  increasing  attendance. 

The  World's  Fair  at  Chicago  (1893),  contributed  not  a  little  in  preparing  America 
to  appreciate  later  pageants.  Miss  Margaret  M.  Eager  gave  several  in  the  90's  in  New 
England,  but  we  may  rightly  consider  these  out-door  dramatic  festivals  as  products  of 
the  twentieth  century.  Although  modem  pageants  did  not  burst  into  flower  until  within 
a  few  years  the  call  was  felt  early  last  century  when  the  "Westminster  Review"  declared: 

He  who  shall  devise  a  form  of  popular  amusement  attractive  at  once  to  every  grade  of  society, 
will  merit  the  civic  wreath  as  well  as  he  who  leads  forth  a  colony  or  opens  new  avenues  of  labor. 

In  America,  the  seed  was  germinating  (1833)  when  Rufus  Choate  delivered  an  ad- 
dress in  which  we  find  him  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  pageant  idea.  He  says: 

But  there  is  one  thing  more  which  every  lover  of  his  country  and  every  lover  of  literature  would 
wish  done  for  our  early  history.  He  would  wish  to  see  such  a  genius  as  Walter  Scott  undertake  in  earn- 
est to  illustrate  that  early  history  by  a  series  of  romantic  compositions  the  scenes  of  which  should  be 
laid  in  North  America  somewhere  in  the  time  before  the  Revolution,  and  the  incidents  and  characters 
of  which  should  be  selected  from  the  mingling  records  and  traditions  of  that,  our  heroic  age.  He 
would  wish  to  see  him  clear  away  the  obscurity  which  two  centuries  have  been  collecting  over  it,  and 

32 


■■BLENNERHASSErX'S    FATAL    DECISION."     SCENE    FROM    FIRST    PAGEANT   IN    AMERICA    (USING   THE    NAME    PAGEANT) 
WHICH  THE  WRITER  HAS  BEEN  ABLE  TO  DISCOVER.     MARIETTA,  OHIO,  JULY,  188X, 


Slot  KS   AM)   IMM.OKV        01. 1)  TIMIi  MKTHODS  OF   I'LNISIIMI'  NT   MAKK  GOOD   M  \  I  I  RIAL    lOR  THK   I'AC;l,A\  I    MASTKR. 


The  Philosophy  of  Pageantry 

unroll  a  vast,  comprehensive  and  vivid  panorama  of  our  New  England  Lifetimes,  from  the  sub- 
limest  moments  to  the  minutest  manners.  He  would  wish  to  see  him  begin  with  the  Landing  of  the 
Pilgrims,  and  pass  down  to  the  War  of  Independence,  from  one  epoch  and  one  generation  to  another, 
like  Old  Mortality  among  the  graves  of  the  unforgotten  faithful,  wiping  the  dust  from  the  urns  of 
our  fathers,  gathering  up  whatever  of  illustrious  achievement,  of  heroic  suffering,  of  unwavering  faith, 
their  history  commemorates,  and  weaving  it  all  into  an  immortal  and  noble  national  literature.  *  *  * 
They  would  give  a  series  of  pictures  of  New  England  so  full,  so  vivid,  so  true,  so  instructive 
that  they  would  grave  themselves  upon  the  memory  and  dwell  in  the  hearts  of  our  whole  people 
forever.  It  is  time  that  literature  and  the  arts  should  co-operate  with  history,  and  like  the  writer  of 
Pentateuch  put  in  requisition  alternately  music,  poetry,  eloquence  and  history,  and  speak  by  turns  to 
the  senses  and  fancy  and  reason  of  the  world.     *     *     * 

For  our  lawyers,  politicians  and  for  most  purposes  of  mere  ultility,  business  and  intellectual,  our 
history  now  perhaps  unfolds  a  sufficiently  "ample  page".  But  I  confess  I  should  love  to  see  it  assume  a 
form  in  which  it  should  speak  directly  to  the  heart  and  affections  and  imagination  of  the  whole  people. 

After  sketching  the  traditions  of  Pageantry  through  centuries  and  considering  the 
divers  uses  to  which  the  art  has  been  put,  it  appears  that  the  pageant,  in  common  accept- 
ance, means  a  spectacular  show — in  early  times  upon  a  moving  platform;  later,  a  proces- 
sional display;  and  latterly,  a  stationary  dramatic  production. 

By  way  of  crystallizing  a  definition  let  us  enumerate  some  of  the  qualities  a 
pageant  should  and  should  not  have — consider  its  possibilities  and  obvious  limitations. 
The  pageant  should  not  be  given  under  cover  of  darkness.  This,  however,  is  a  moot  point 

35 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

among  many  masters.  Some  are  emphatically  in  favor  of  evening  performances.  They 
find  it  much  easier  to  secure  suitable  sites  for  a  pageant  given  at  night  when  man's  ugli- 
ness can  be  concealed  in  vast  pockets  of  darkness,  and  the  atmosphere  of  romance  en- 
hanced by  fantastic  lights,  which  theatrical  managers  are  shrewd  to  make  use  of.  Another 
advantage  is  that  working  classes  have  better  opportunity  to  attend,  which  thus  increases 
the  financial  returns.  The  magic  and  mystery  of  artificial  illumination  create  some  of  the 
eerie  and  illusive  witchery  of  the  Arabian  Nights  entertainments.  Startling  glimpses  of 
historic  scenes  under  searching  calcium  lights  are  like  Carlyle's  "history  by  lightning 
fiashes".  But  it  is  not  the  purpose  of  pageantry  to  bewilder  and  dazzle  and  focus  the 
attention  on  modem  mechanical  wizardry  of  illumination — the  spectator  at  night  is 
never  allowed  to  feel  that  the  show  is  other  than  make-believe.  Since  pageant  scenes  en- 
deavor to  reproduce  actual  occurrences  more  than  theatrical  illusions,  the  night  per- 
formance is  scarcely  appropriate,  as  few  events  that  will  be  reproduced  occurred  after 
night-fall.  The  audience  cannot  read  the  programs  in  the  dark;  the  mind  is  confused 
and  cannot  follow  symbolic  meanings  which  require  the  fullest  comprehension.  Nor  is 
it  pleasing,  or  desirable,  to  have  promiscuous  crowds  of  young  people  scattered  about  the 
fields  and  woods  in  theatrical  trappings  during  the  night.  The  real  pageant  is  something 
higher  than  a  dazzling  dream  and  should  be  a  sun-lit  vision  of  the  open  day. 

36 


The  Philosophy  of  Pageantry 

A  major,  or  first-class,  pageant  cannot  be  given  in  a  theatre.  It  is  cramped  and 
smothered  indoors.  Like  the  American  eagle,  a  national  festival  must  have  freedom.  As  the 
captive  eagle  within  a  cage  has  not  the  charm  of  the  bird  soaring  majestically  between 
heaven  and  earth,  so  the  pageant  is  degraded  when  cabined  within  four  walls.  Mother 
Earth  must  be  its  tutelary  saint.  History  is  more  convincing  to  an  audience  when  the 
players  stand  with  feet  on  terra  firma  than  when  clattering  on  boards  behind  footlights. 

Another  essential  feature — it  should  be  co-operative — a  sharing  of  emotions  and 
feelings — pleasures  and  profits  of  the  entertainment  among  those  who  participate  and 
among  those  who  behold.  Far  better  that  the  pageant  be  conceived  and  directed  by  local 
talent  than  by  professional  showmen  whose  chief  interest  centers  in  box-office  receipts. 

An  ideal  pageant  should  be  free— at  least  on  one  day  to  those  who  cannot  pay 
for  seats.  Seats  may  be  sold  to  the  fashionable  world,  but  nobody  should  be  excluded  for 
lack  of  a  half-dollar.  That  is  important  from  a  democratic  point  of  view.''  The  ideal  dem- 
ocracy should  provide  education,  emplojrment,  and  entertainment.  At  a  town  near  Bos- 
ton, an  exclusive,  un-American  pageant  was  given  at  which  only  those  invited  could 
attend.  When  it  becomes  necessary  to  examine  social  credentials  of  actors  and  audience 
the  community  pageant  defeats  its  purpose.  Pageantry  takes  the  world  as  it  comes.  An 
approach  to  the  ideal  pageant  was  given  in  a  humble  way  at  Warwick,  Massachusetts,  (1912). 

37 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

To  celebrate  the  150th  anniversary  the  town  appropriated  ten  dollars;  the  townspeople  did 
the  rest  and  returned  two  dollars  to  the  treasury.  No  admission  was  charged;  the  spec- 
tators sat  on  a  grassy  hillside  and  those  present  will  testify  that  it  was  a  worthy  little 
pageant.  At  St.  Louis  the  vast  auditorium  was  divided  equally  between  free  and  pay  seats. 
From  the  above  consideration  we  arrive  at  these  criteria.  The  pageant  should  be 
given  out  of  doors — should  not  be  given  at  night — should  be  artistic  but  not  too  artificial 
— should  be  democratic  and  co-operative  (an  indigenous,  home-made  product) — not  tire- 
somely  didactic — not  immoderately  sensuous- — should  not  exclude  anyone  unable  to 
pay — should  not  be  a  professional  commercial  venture,  and  should  be  conducted  by  home- 
making  men  and  women.  Here,  then,  is  a  definition:  The  true  pageant  is  an  idealized 
community  epic,  conceived  and  presented  dramatically  and  simply  in  the  open  fields  and 
sunshine,  by  the  co-operative  effort  of  creative  local  townspeople. 


38 


FRANKLIN  AT  THK  COURT  OF  LOUIS  XIV.      NOTE  HOW  A  FEW  SIMPLE  PROPERTIES  SUGGEST  A  COURT  YARD. 


MISSISSIPPI 


SYMBOLIZED   AT   ST. 
STERN.     THE 


LOUIS. 
CRAFT 


THE   "FATHER   OF   WATERS"    STANDS   AT   PROW.      LITTLE   ST.    LOUIS   IN   THE 
W'AS    PROPELLED    BY    PADDLES    AND    BY    BOY    SWIMMERS. 


■DON   1)1-;   DlKl'."  IN  QIKHKC    PACI-.ANT 


■II AI.K-MOON"    IN    IIinSON-I'Ll.rON    PAliKANT. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Pageantry  as  One  of  the  Fine  Arts. 

Time,  who  doth  bmd  men  with  his  chain  of  years,  Fate,  who  doth  make  all  life  to  bloom  and  close, 
Death,  who  doth  reap  for  time  and  Fate:  These  three  wage  war  against  the  starry  crown  of  song, 

And  stand  in  dreaded  leaguer,  with  drawn  swords,  before  the  garden  where  the  Rose  of  Art, 
Like  a  blown  flame,  hath  being  and  delight.   But  here,  behold,  a  miracle:  Time  sleeps; 

Fate  nods;  and  Death  hath  had  his  will.    Tonight,  the  centuries,  like  pages  of  a  book. 

Turn  backward;  and  the  Rose  of  Art  doth  breathe,  with  a  new  perfume,  springtides  long  forgot. 

Thomas  Wood  Stevens. 

AGEANTRY  may  be  considered  both  as  one  of  the  useful  and  as 
one  of  the  fine  arts.  As  a  useful  art  it  must  prove  its  services  to 
man;  as  a  fine  art  its  claim  to  beauty.  Strictly  speaking,  a  useful 
art  is  a  mechanical  or  applied  art  only — one  in  which  appearance 
or  form  is  second  to  utility.  Moralists  contend  that  beauty  which 
does  not  promote  efficiency  of  the  race  has  no  justification  of  being.  Pageantry  promotes 
efficiency  in  the  same  sense  that  the  school-house  does,  teaching  something  that  everyone 
ought  to  know.  A  sense  of  power  resides  in  beauty,  an  ideal  beautifully  expressed  be- 
comes most  powerful.    A  fine  art  is  an  embodiment  of  the  thoughts  and  emotions  of  an 


41 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

artist  in  an  objective  product  such  as  a  symphony,  poem,  statue,  where  appearance  and 
mental  effect  on  eye  and  ear  are  of  first  consideration — an  external  product  of  the  hu- 
man mind  in  contrast  to  Nature  which  is  a  creation  of  the  Almighty.  In  the  creation 
of  beautiful  objects  the  human  mind  touches  most  closely  the  Infinite.  Browning 
sings:  "If  you  get  simply  beauty  and  naught  else,  you  get  about  the  best  that  God  in- 
vents". Works  of  art  are  distinguished  from  other  objects  when  the  person  contemplating 
them  is  transported  above  sex  and  above  the  given  medium  into  the  spirit  world  of  im- 
personal beauty.  Man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone;  he  must  have  "white  hyacinths 
to  feed  his  soul". 

Beauty  which  makes  for  happiness,  then,  is  the  universal  criterion  among  the  fine 
arts.  Applying  this  test  to  pageantry  what  do  we  find?  Pageantry  that  is  not  beautiful  is 
inconceivable,  though  it  can  hardly  be  termed  a  fundamental,  substantive  art  like  paint- 
ing, sculpture,  or  musical  composition.  The  latter  are  called  creative  arts.  But  man  cannot 
absolutely  create  anything.  As  the  Spanish  proverb  has  it,  there  is  nothing  new  under  the 
sun — except  what  is  forgotten.  Man  merely  puts  into  new  shapes  and  applications 
things  which  already  exist  in  the  world  about  him.  Each  succeeding  generation  resets  the 
stage  for  the  same  old  play.  Pageantry  is  a  composite  symposium  partaking  of  the 
elements  of  various  arts  just  as  it  is  a  focal  point  of  divers  recreational  interests.  The  full 

42 


DETAIL   FROM  PAGEANT  AT  ERASMUS  HALL.   BROOKLYN.   SHOWING   ERASMUS   AND   MONKS    IN    CONCLAVE.    A    FORMAL 
TREATMENT    OCCASIONALLY     MAKES    INTERESTING    VARIETY. 


SPIRITS  OF  THE  WIND  AND  INDIANS,  SCHENICCTADV.  NKW  VORK.  SV  MHuLlj,\l  AND  :.A\  AOER  V  .\l\Ki    A  il\l.  COMRAST. 


'FRIEZE  "1'    I'llK  I'ROPHKTS,"  PACSEANT  OF    THE  MINISTERING  Gli   r.   RICIIMdM),  \  IRCilM  A      in    MISS  HELEN  THOIU^RN 


Pageantry  as  One  of  the  Fine  Arts 

bench  of  the  Muses  sits  in  judgment;  talent  of  many  kinds  is  emancipated — elocu- 
tionist, artist,  dancer,  author,  actor,  each  finds  a  fertile  field  for  his  endeavor.  The 
art  is  visualized,  not  in  marble  or  on  canvas  but  through  the  medium  of  living  flesh.  The 
greatest  art  in  the  world  is  the  art  of  living,  said  Herbert  Spencer.  Pageantry  attempts 
to  "compete  with  life",  expressing  in  flesh  and  blood  democracy's  idealism.  Pageantry  is 
organic,  personal,  subjective — the  artist  offers  himself.  The  soul  of  the  poet  and  artist 
may  lie  fallow  beneath  the  frock  of  the  butcher  or  the  jerkin  of  the  blacksmith  until  the 
pageant  brings  it  forth.  A  man  must  keep  out  of  jail  and  almshouse  first.  Whenever 
necessity  and  the  stern  struggle  for  a  livelihood  relax  their  grip  the  lyric  side  of  life,  poten- 
tial in  everyone,  rises  to  the  surface. 

"Lyrical"  has  been  defined  as  implying  a  form  of  musical  utterance  in  art  governed 
by  overmastering  emotion  and  set  free  by  powerful  concordant  rhythm.  Lyric  emotion 
seems  to  be  a  sort  of  care-free  spirit  bouncing  through  the  world — instinctive,  happy- 
go-lucky  spontaneousness  which  ignores  consequences  (and  often  bills)  and  bursts  the 
restraining  ties  of  civilization  to  pour  out  the  primeval  joy  in  the  heart.  Forgetfulness  of 
self  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  The  lyrical  impulse  which  the  pageant  engenders,  makes 
more  keenly  alive  those  fine,  sensitive  feelings  which  round  out  human  character  and  give 
birth  to  such  arts  as  represent  the  flower  of  the  nation's  growth. 

45 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

Beauty  should  rise  to  the  height  of  sublimity  in  the  pageant.  To  the  connoisseur, 
the  thrills  of  pleasure  which  the  Fine  Arts  give,  are  due  not  to  the  soul  vibrations  they 
arouse  by  a  moral  lesson  conveyed,  but  to  the  harmonious  relation  of  color  and  the  ma- 
terial constituent  elements.  Form  is  a  particular  arrangement  of  a  group  of  things  which 
imparts  to  their  individuality  a  new  collective  significance,  and  gives  to  the  whole,  melody, 
unity  and  beauty.  Underlying  principles  of  all  arts  are  dominance,  sequence,  order,  empha- 
sis, contrast,  composition,  unity.  Dr.  S.  S.  Curry  likens  the  pageant  to  a  Chinese  tapestry  in 
which  the  heterogeneous  figures  point  to  one  central  theme.  The  illuminati — especially 
workers  in  color — will  be  moving  directors  of  the  pageant.  "It's  the  color  that  gets  in  one's 
throat",  observed  Kipling,  reviewing  the  Oxford  pageant.  Color  is  the  lure  which  at- 
tracts the  whole  town.  Humanity  gropes  toward  the  light.  The  Latin  word  "festum" 
appears  in  the  German  "fest",  the  Spanish  "fiesta",  the  English  "feast".  The  pageant 
is  a  festival  in  the  sense  that  it  is  a  feast  for  the  eye— a  banquet  of  color.  On  a  dry 
summer's  afternoon  when  the  horizontal  rays  of  the  setting  sun  illumine  the  powdery 
atmosphere,  the  unfolding,  serial  splendors  of  a  pageant  have  seemed  like  an  enormous 
stained-glass  window  being  put  together  and  taken  apart  before  the  eyes.  Again  it  may 
be  compared  to  an  irridescent  mirage  of  the  Past  lying  beyond  the  horizon  on  the  one 
hand  and  of  the  Future  on  the  other  hand. 

46 


■CHARIOT  RACE." 


IN  GREEK  PAGEANT.   "THE  FIRE  REGAINED"    NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE.  WRITTEN  BY  SIDNEY  M.HIRSCH 
THE    BUILDING    IS    A   REPRODUCTION    OF  THE    ATHENIAN    PARTHENON. 


PAGEANT  AT   MEDVVAY,  MASSACHUSETTS.       liV   MISS   ESTHER   \V.   BATES.       NOIK 
STONE   WAI.I.,  ALSO  SCREEN  TO   E.VCI.U Dl'.   PUHIU'  XV   U.n\\y\\.\\ 


THI-:   ARTISliC    AND  SERVICEABLE 
l\    UACKCRDUM) 


Pageantry  as  One  of  the  Fine  Arts 

Pageantry  is  art  for  the  dilettante.  It  may  seem  superficial  compared  with  stage 
play  since  no  laboriously-worked-out  plot  is  required.  Anyone  with  sound  horse-sense 
and  capacity  for  hard  work  may  be  a  master.  A  person  need  not  study  ten  years  to 
acquire  the  technique  nor  become  impassioned  to  the  point  of  madness.  Pageantry  is 
more  derivative  than  spontaneous.  The  artist  creates,  originates;  the  pageant  master 
arranges,  chronicles — copies  the  magpie  who  builds  her  nest  from  whatever  strikes  her 
fancy.  The  artist  keeps  the  world  from  turning  sour,  because  he  is  always  holding  up  fresh 
ideals  of  beauty.  He  supplies  that  vision  without  which  the  people  perish;  but  in  pa- 
geantry the  bone  and  sinev/  of  the  municipality  supply  the  "punch".  The  vision  and  the 
punch  must  combine  to  produce  vigorous,  constructive  art. 

Before  pageantry  may  be  admitted  permanently  into  the  charmed  circle  of  the 
higher  arts,  it  must  dispel  the  charge  of  being  merely  a  passing  fad  and  prove  its  vitality 
as  an  ai'tistic  phenomenon.  To  justify  recognition  a  fine  art  must  convey  a  distinct 
message  which  no  other  art  can  do.  After  knocking  a  long  while  at  the  door  has  not 
photography  been  recognized  as,  and  conceded  the  dignity  of,  an  art-form?  What  is  the  pe- 
culiar individuality  of  the  pageant?  As  a  medium  of  expression  the  pageant  occupies  a 
place  among  the  fine  arts  somewhat  akin  to,  yet  separated  from,  the  drama.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  the  English  drama  was  an  outgrowth  of  pageantry.    Indissolubly  associated 

49 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

with  the  development  of  the  community,  true  pageantry  is  the  art  of  perfecting  the  hu- 
man family.  Other  arts  are  mostly  individual.  The  world  has  been  accustomed  to  over- 
look the  lapses  from  conventional  ethics  among  studio  orchids.  A  dazzling  genius  of 
Bohemia  may  live  without  family,  credit,  sobriety,  hair-cut  or  clean  collar  and  yet  hold 
the  adulation  of  the  world  through  the  "virtue  proper  to  his  profession".  Oscar 
Wilde  claimed  that  the  worship  of  beauty  was  too  splendid  to  be  sane.  But  that  morbid 
esthete  was  hardly  a  pageant  model.  The  business  of  pageantry  is  to  reveal  life  as  it 
should  be — life  and  art — not  art  above  all  else  in  the  world.  To  produce  normal,  sane, 
vital  men  and  women  counts  first.  Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning  in  her  "deepest  con- 
victions on  Life  and  Art"  makes  this  confession: 

Passioned  to  exalt  the  artist  in  me, 

At  the  cost  of  putting  down  the  woman,  I  forgot 

No  perfect  artist  is  developed  here,  from  any  imperfect  woman. 

The  first  noticeable  difference  between  theatrical  play  and  the  pageant  is,  that  in  the 
latter  there  is  no  curtain.  In  the  play-house  curiosity  and  expectation  are  alert  to  know 
what  is  going  on  behind  the  barrier.  At  the  sound  of  a  bell  the  eye  eagerly  follows 
the  rising  curtain  to  catch  glimpses  of  the  ankles,  knees,  bodies,  and  finally  heads  of 
the  players — the  audience  is  greeted  with  a  burst  of  song,  or  ushered  into  the  midst  of 

50 


THE  COLONNADE  AND  STATUE  IN  NEW  YORK  CARRY  A  SUGGESTION  OF  THE  ROMAN  PROCESSIONAL  PAGEAN  P. 


^^Hl 

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H^^^l 

Eri 

^^^^^^I^P            VF^ 

/ "  J^K^^^V^^^^^^^^H 

K/^ 

^^^B'  '       1' 

^^^^^^Hi. 

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^^^^^^B ,  >     '^^M 

■fl 

■MARCH    I'AST"    IN    TIIK    I'AGKANT    OF    ILLINOIS  in    THOMAS  W.  STEVENS. 


A  GOOD  ILLUSTRATION   OF  THE   SPECTACULAR   EFFECT  OF  NIGHT   PAGEANTS. 


"RAISINC;   THK  MKST  MI-I    TNO  HOI  Si;  "    A  FLOAT  IN  THK  SI  RKI-.T  PAGKANT  C;l\  li.N  AT  NKIHT.     CADI  1,I-AC,  MIt  HK;AN. 


Pageantry  as  One  of  the  Fine  Arts 

kitchen  banter  between  the  butler  and  maid  servant.  The  real  pageant  does  not  break  up- 
on one  so  rudely.  It  dawns  as  stealthily  as  approaching  day.  During  the  strains  of  the 
overture  a  single  figure,  or  chorus,  or  group  of  dancers,  is  discovered  gradually  approaching 
from  some  far-away  entrance,  allowing  the  imagination  time  to  play  about  the  figures 
with  the  lambent  glow  of  heat-lightning  upon  the  distant  landscape  on  a  summer's  evening. 
One  of  the  essential  differences  between  the  drama  and  the  pageant  is,  that  the 
former  carries  its  lesson  by  presenting  the  career  of  a  single  individual  against  which  the 
spectator  measures  the  vicissitudes  of  his  own  existence.  In  this  way,  perhaps,  a  finer 
artistry  and  unity  of  theme  may  be  possible,  and  the  rewards  of  virtue  and  wages  of 
sin  more  intimately  shown.  The  play  has  plot— development,  continuity,  denouement. 
There  is  an  artistic  finish  in  a  three-act  play  disclosing  the  temptation  of  a  man  or  woman, 
the  downfall  and  final  banishment  from  society,  or  the  sorrows  of  two  lovers  who,  at  the 
final  curtain,  live  happy  ever  after.  The  theatre  deals  almost  universally  with  personal 
problems  involving  the  duel  of  the  sexes.  Wendell  Phillips  said:  There  are  but  two  plots 
—love  and  hate.  The  pageant  on  the  other  hand  takes  up  the  larger  virtues  and 
heroic  affairs  of  the  corporate  community,  "a  body  without  death  and  mind  without 
decline",  and  the  individual  is  no  longer  a  unit  to  measure  against  the  hero  of 
the  play,  but  a  mere  fraction  of  the  solid  race,  experiencing  the  common  lot  of  man. 

55 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

Pageantry  supplies  an  important  lesson  in  humility:  That  nature,  while  she  encourages 
reasonable  individuality,  is  careless  of  the  individual  in  her  desire  to  forward  the  whole  race. 
While  the  drama  is  an  indoor  product  having  unity  of  time,  place  and  action,  the  best 
pageant  is  given  in  God's  Great  Out-of-doors  and  makes  a  place  or  an  idea  the  hero — not 
an  individual.  There  is  no  bright  particular  star  for  whom  the  other  players  are  but  a 
supporting  company.  Many  dramatists  have  taken  a  small  section  of  folk-life  for  a  theme 
but  it  takes  the  pageant  to  transmit  a  catholic,  inclusive  vision  of  humanity  and  preach  the 
gospel  of  life  with  stateliness,  sweep,  and  grandeur.  It  is  a  life-size,  full  length  portrait  of 
a  geographical  hero  executed  with  bold,  broad  treatment.  ' 

A  pageant  is  more  loosely  articulated  than  a  play — simpler,  more  ruggedly  elemental, 
presenting  more  primal  impulses.  It  lays  stronger  emphasis  on  color,  mass  and  motion; 
less  on  light  and  dialogue.  A  theatre  has  formal  wings,  proscenium,  tormentors — a  pageant 
arena  is  limited  only  by  the  horizon.  There  are  no  flies  on  a  pageant.  This  may  handi- 
cap its  capacity  to  produce  a  sudden  artificial  shower  or  snow  storm.  Showers  are  real 
in  pageants — usually  too  real.  Modem  theatre-goers  speak  of  light  as  the  chief  person- 
age in  the  play.  By  means  of  the  Fortuny  dome  and  stereopticon,  light  transforms  a 
stage  scene  into  poetic  and  entrancing  beauty.  But  these  are  out  of  place  in  pageantry 
as  much  as  wind-machines,  thunder-making  devices  or  discordant  drummer's  traps. 

56 


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SCKNE  AT  PAGEANT  IN   DRlll)  MILL  PARK-  H  Al,  11  \U)RK.      RKFI.KC 'IIONS  IN   IM.ACID  U  AIER   DDL  DLIi  THE  ROMANTIC 

til  ARM  OF   AN  ATIRACTU  E  EPISODE 


Pageantry  as  One  of  the  Fine  Arts 

Old  Probabilities  is  the  director  of  lighting.  His  moods  are  delightfully  uncertain.  No 
one  else  knows  whether  a  scene  will  be  acted  under  an  idyllic  calm,  brooding  tempest, 
blistering  sun,  Titianesque  sunset,  or  a  "painter's  sky"  of  dull,  low-hanging  clouds.  The 
master  of  stagecraft  at  the  Little  Theatre  determines  the  cubature  of  stage  area  for  pro- 
portion, composition,  rapport;  the  pageant  master  must  work  by  rule  of  thumb  and  in- 
tuitive judgment.  But  he  may  introduce  features  that  are  impossible  in  the  circumscribed 
playhouse,  such  as  a  shepherd  leading  a  flock  of  sheep  over  the  hillside  or  a  troop  of  gaily 
caparisoned  horses  dashing  up  through  a  long  vista.  Earth,  air,  fire,  water  are  available 
to  produce  "atmosphere".  Whenever  possible  approaching  boats  captivate  an  audience. 
Other  expressive  elemental  things,  like  blazing  altar  fires  ascending  in  spiral  columns; 
diaphanous  mists  created  by  pouring  water  upon  heated  stones;  shooting  arrows  from  bows 
into  the  woods  or  across  the  water;  or  releasing  a  flock  of  captive  doves,  have  their 
place.  One  of  the  very  beautiful  scenes  in  the  Darien  pageant  was  when,  at  the  close, 
the  entire  company  filed  past  a  bonfire  in  the  open  field  and  each  person  tossed  a  fagot  up- 
on the  blazing  common  hearth.  At  Tampa,  Florida,  a  chess  game  played  with  living 
queens,  bishops,  pawns,  was  a  strikingly  happy  entr'acte. 

Pageantry  turns  thought  back  to  the  picturesque    side    of  life  which  has  been 
grievously  marred  by  most  of  our  modern  mechanical  devices.  Efficiency  is  usually  gained 

59 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

at  the  loss  of  charm.  The  cultural  side  of  life  is  emphasized  in  pageantry  in  order  that 
idealism  may  not  be  ground  under  the  iron  heel  of  materialism.  Lowell  once  said  he  hoped 
Harvard  College  would  never  teach  anything  useful.  So  long  as  man  made  things  by  hand 
he  found  joy  in  his  work.  The  machine  crushes  out  much  of  the  happiness  of  labor.  A 
happy  person  is  in  the  best  mood  to  create.  The  joy  of  imagination  is  recognized  by 
Christian  Scientist  and  by  the  child  making  castles  in  the  sand.  Expression,  based  up- 
on thinking,  imagination,  feeling,  will,  is  to  the  artist  the  supreme  satisfaction  of  life.  By 
giving  a  local  habitation  to  his  dreams  he  lives.  But  a  pageant  is  not  given  wholly  for 
art's  sake.  Always  the  serious  lesson  of  the  great  legion  who  have  passed  on  before,  ap- 
peals to  the  living  to  press  courageously  forward  toward  their  imfulfilled  ideals  and 
broaden  the  flowing  stream  of  life.  There  is  an  ethical  as  well  as  esthetical  side.  The 
same  Emerson,  who  said:   Beauty  is  its  own  excuse  for  being,  also  wrote: 

I  slept  and  dreamed  the  world  was  beauty;  I  woke  and  lo,  I  found  'twas  duty. 
Rhythm  has  been  called  the  father  of  all  arts.  Poetry,  painting,  sculpture, 
architecture,  music,  are  thus  allied  by  a  common  basis  of  unity.  Rhythm  of  body  is  the 
earliest  of  the  arts.  A  fundamental  requisite  in  pageantry  is  that  each  individual  shall  be 
a  decorative  feature  in  the  landscape  which  is  seldom  the  case  in  the  stress  and  strain  of 
struggling,  every  day  existence.  A  pageant  is  a  transfiguration  in  which  the  sordid,  common 

60 


fefe-*?4;;ttf 

^H 

"iJ^a^BM     ll^ 

■jiSEB 

^iLiii^ 

W^l^gMm^^^^ 

SUFFRAGE  PAGEANT,  WASHINGTON.      TOY  BALLOONS  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  DANCERS  GIVE  A  LIGHT  AND  AIRY  EFFECT. 


A  CHILDREN'S  PAGEANT  ON  CHICAGO  PLAYGROUND  DIRECTED  BY  MISS  CORA  MEL  P.VTTEN. 


COIRT   OI    KING  GEORGE  AND  QUEEN  CHARLOTTE.  A  SCREEN   BACKGROUND  TO  SUGGEST  INDOORS  WAS  FOUND 
BE  LESS  PLEASING  THAN  THE   NATURAL  LAKE  BACKGROUND. 


ro 


Pageantry  as  One  of  the  Fine  Arts 

grunt  and  sweat  of  actual  events  are  swept  away,  leaving  the  soul  of  the  occasion  set  free 
into  poetic  beauty  somewhat  as  the  post-impressionist  painter  scorns  the  mere  itemization 
of  details  and  portrays  only  the  inner  spirit  of  his  subject. 

The  pageant  fills  the  mind  with  beautiful  tableaux — pictures  that  will  not  fade  in 
a  lifetime  on  a  sensitized  eye.  To  an  appreciative  artist  the  world  is  a  continuous  gallery 
of  gratifying  pictures,  which  exhilarate  those  who  have  eyes  to  see  and  hearts  to  respond. 
He  sees  everywhere  the  spirit  of  beauty  seeking  admission  to  this  world  of  the  senses. 
These  beautiful  impressions  through  the  windows  of  the  soul,  create  his  character  and  de- 
termine the  degree  of  his  enjoyment  of  life.  The  fine  arts  are  the  language  of  the  super- 
man. A  few  unfortunates  have  neither  an  eye  for  beauty  nor  an  ear  for  music.  To  the 
elect,  the  sense  of  the  beautiful  feeds  and  gives  strength  through  repose,  because  in  esthetic 
enjoyment,  the  "human  equation"  is  eliminated  and  a  person  is  raised  to  a  plane  of  ab- 
stract contemplation  (ask  militant  suffragettes). 

A  well-regulated  pageant  should  consist  of  three  parts,  realism,  symbolism,  ideal- 
ism. Much  attention  has  lately  been  given  to  pantomime  and  Delsartian  callisthenics, 
which  are  the  special  property  of  the  pageant.  Pantomime  brings  into  play  symbolism, 
which  seems  to  satisfy  a  longing  for  something  yet  imattained ;  and  implies  an  ulterior 
meaning  in  an  object — as  when  the  laurel  tokens  victory,  or  a  slip  of  paper  autographed 

63 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

by  Uncle  Sam  stands  for  one  hundred  dollars  in  gold.  At  Nashville,  Tennesee,  a  figure 
representing  Hope  kindling  the  flame  of  Truth  upon  the  altar  of  Time  was  a  good  pageant  in- 
stance. Large  ideas  are  thus  crystallized  in  tabloid  form.  Visible  symbols  of  invisible  re- 
alities are  a  revolt  against  the  hard,  cruel,  staring  actualities  of  existence.  The  world  is 
full  of  imaginative  people  who  dislike  to  call  a  spade  a  spade.  The  ideal  play-world  of  art 
aspires  above  the  exacting,  imperative  world  of  fact.  The  tendency  of  advancing  minds 
to  substitute  a  symbol  for  a  conception,  to  translate  ideas  into  images,  and  reduce  every 
nebulous  fancy  to  a  precise  and  visible  form  calls  into  play  the  finest  artistic  invention. 
We  have  seen  preventive  medicine  symbolized,  the  ocean,  mountains,  insects,  New  Eng- 
land Conscience,  witchcraft,  even  crime,  symbolized.  One  of  the  finest  types  of  sym- 
bolic pageant,  called  the  "Perfect  City,"  was  given  (1910)  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Forward  Civic  Movement  at  Boston.  Knights  of  Economy  repulsed  the  besetting  ills 
of  civic  life — disease,  dirt,  crime,  insanity,  fire  and  flood.  An  exquisite  conception  of 
symbolism  at  St.  Johnsbury,  Vermont,  represented  the  vision  of  St.  John  by  a 
cavalcade  of  Knights  of  St.  John  winding  up  the  hill-side  from  the  valley  and  dis- 
appearing through  the  woodland.  There  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the  possibilities  of 
interpreting  every  phase  of  thought  through  the  symbolic  dance.  In  Greek  days  a  mask 
was  worn  by  the  players  which  everybody  understood.    But  when  symbolism  is  em- 

64 


■■KITCHEN   SPIRITS"    IN   PAGEANT  OF   HOME-MAKING   AT   ELIOT.   MAINE.       BY   MRS.  SIDNEY   LANIER.  JR 
MUNITY   PAGEANT  IS   PREMISED  ON  THE  PRESERVATION   OF  THE   HOME. 


THE   COM- 


tv-l^ 


'■SIGNING     IlIK    DKCLARXIION    OK    I N  DKl'KN  DKNCK,'     AT    LM  \KRSirV    OF 
AND   COLONIAL    A  RC  II  ITKCTl  RK  LKNIi  THEMSELVES  AnMIRAHl 


\IR(;IMA.      THE    ATTRACIIVE    CAMPUS 
.\   TO  I'AliKANT  ITRI'OSES. 


Pageantry  as  One  of  the  Fine  Arts 

bodied  in  pantomime  and  action  by  amateur  actors,  care  must  be  taken  not  to  draw  it  so 
finely  that  even  the  most  acute  minds  are  unable  to  comprehend  it. 

Pageantry  makes  for  grace  of  body,  ease  of  manner,  literary  appreciation,  clear  dic- 
tion, richer  emotions,  style  in  raiment,  and  adds  to  the  general  store  of  culture  and  happi- 
ness of  mind.  Acting  a  part  allows  the  performer  to  vent  his  surplus  emotional  energy 
in  the  carrying  out  of  a  character  which  by  its  imaginative  sweep  stimulates  him  to  become 
temporarily  the  assumed  personality.  Everyone  enjoys  being  a  hero,  if  only  vicariously. 
No  matter  how  clumsy  or  half-baked  the  pageant  artistry  may  be,  it  slakes,  in  some 
measure,  the  gnawing  hunger  for  artistic  nourishment.  One  enthusiast  recommends 
that  a  master  of  pageants  be  appointed  for  public  services  in  every  city,  to  direct  all 
holiday  celebrations. 

For  only  half  a  century  has  the  public  library  been  a  permanent  institution  in  the 
city,  but  who  today  would  think  of  planning  a  municipality  without  one.  Lately, 
we  have  seen  the  necessity  of  establishing  public  playgrounds  in  every  city.  The 
next  movement  should  be  to  set  apart  a  nature-theatre  where  pageants  and  outdoor 
plays  may  be  presented  by  the  public  during  seasonable  weather.  Steps  have  al- 
ready been  taken  for  the  establishment  of  such  theatres  at  Spuyten-Duvil-on-the- 
Hudson,  at  Bankside,   North   Dakota,  and  at  Carmel,  California.    A  hillside  partly 

67 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

covered  with  a  roof  will  provide  an  auditorium  where  the  audience  may  enjoy  the  efforts 
of  mankind  and  at  the  same  time  take  delight  in  the  bumblebees  humming  over  the 
clover  fields,  the  smell  of  the  peaty  turf  and  the  call  of  the  woodland  birds.  Especially 
would  our  more  recent  immigrants  from  continental  Eiirope  who  have  inherited  dramatic 
and  artistic  instincts  be  benefited  by  such  an  institution.  It  takes  years  to  acquire  high 
appreciation  of  art,  but  the  person  who  does,  possesses  entree  to  the  choicest,  most  refresh- 
ing pleasure  the  civilized  world  can  offer.  And  what  is  appreciated  is  appropriated.  By 
establishing  this  nature-theatre  there  will  be  no  danger  that  the  pageant  will  be  a  pass- 
ing fad — it  will  rest  secure  among  the  permanent  arts. 


68 


THE    AUDIENCE    SURROUNDED    THE    PAGEANT    AT    ERASMUS    HALL,    BROOKLYN 


TVPICAI.  PANOR  \MIC  \  IKW  OF  GROUP  OF  PAGKANTEF.RS  IN  COSTIME 


I  HK  l'Ai;i:ANr  of  I'ONtK  DF.  I.KON   AT  ST.  AlCLSriNF.  FLORIDA.  WAS  PRF.SKNTKI3  ON  THE  PARADF  l.kdlND  l\ 

THF.  SHADOW  OF   FORT    MARION. 


SEATED   IN  FRONT  OF  THE    BLEACHERS   AT    ROCK    HII.E,    SOITH    C\ROI,l\A 


THE  AESTHETIC  VALUE  OF  THE  HORSE  OVER  THE  AUTOMOBILE  IS  WELL  DEMONSTRATED  HERE         AN    EQUINE    EPISODE 

IN  A  PAGEANT  IS  SURE  TO  BE  APPRECIATED. 


sw^ 


i^wwmrmmm^ 


SVMHOI.It\l,"I'A(;i-:AN  [•    OF     lliK     VKAR'AI'     lilcll     SCHOOL.     HROOKl.INK.    MASASCIIUSETTS. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Pageantry  as  an  Educational  Factor. 

Truth,  beauty,  knowledge  are  three  sisters 
Who  never  can  be  sundered  without  tears. 


Tennyson. 


OMENIUS,  father  of  modern  education,  writing  in  Orbis  Sensual- 
ium  Pictus,  the  first  child's  picture  book,  recognized  that  teaching 
could  make  a  stronger  appeal  to  the  mind  through  the  eye  than 
through  the  ear^that  images  make  ideas  more  definite  and  con- 
crete than  words.  This  picturebook  plan,  originating  with  the 
Moravian  bishop  in  the  17th  century  has  been  elaborated  and  perfected  with  the  passing 
of  time.  Knowledge  cannot  be  spread  by  word  of  mouth  and  books  alone;  the  art  of  com- 
munication assumes  many  forms.  For  conveying  historic  information  the  degree  of  impres- 
sion might  be  stated  in  this  order:  First,  the  printed  word;  second,  the  printed  picture; 
third,  the  moving  picture;  fourth,  the  living  picture.  We  measure  history  by  the  human 
unit — man — and  to  objectify  history  through  living  persons  gives  the  vital  touch  that 
makes  our  predecessors  in  the  procession  of  life  stand  and  glow  before  our  eyes.  History 
pictorially  presented  takes  a  firmer  grip  on  the  minds  of  indifferent  students.  They  may  live 


73 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

over  again  more  easily  the  experiences  of  those  people  who  loved  and  laughed,  struggled  and 
wept  in  years  gone  by.    A  person  who  never  attended  school  can  appreciate  the  pageant. 

Edison,  fovmder  of  the  popular  "fiive-cent  university,"  declares  that  some  day 
he  will  do  away  with  all  text  books  and  teach  everything  by  electricity.  But  the  pageant 
may  forestall  him.  The  educative  value  of  art  as  a  vehicle  of  power  is  everywhere 
recognized  by  public  school  teachers,  who  perceive  that  the  pageant  contains  germs  of 
promise  not  fully  developed.  There  is  scarcely  a  normal  school  in  the  country  which  has 
not,  in  some  form  or  other,  attempted  what  we  have  styled  "the  academic  pageant." 
Anne  A.  T.  Craig  has  written  a  volume  to  prove  that  the  joy  of  a  productive  activity 
is  the  strongest  motive  force  in  true  education. 

The  pageant  is  a  hundred-headed  teacher  who  educates  by  wholesale.  It  is  a  living 
museum  of  fine  things,  converting  the  pasture  into  a  schoolroom, — a  popular  society 
for  stimulating  the  historic  sense  which  has  been  backward  in  America.  For  two  centu- 
ries American  youth  were  trained  to  emulate  heroes  from  Rome,  Greece  and  early  Eng- 
land. Now  that  the  rise  of  America  is  considered  history  of  first  magnitude  the  pageant 
may  teach  something  more  than  soulless,  Gradgrind  facts  and  dull  genealogical  data.  The 
continuity  of  advancing  civilization  is  picturesquely  brought  to  mind.  Boiling  down  three 
centuries  into  three  hours  makes  a  rich  quintessence  of  social  and  political  progress. 

74 


PROCESSIONAL  FROM  THE  MAGNIFICENT  "PAGEANT  OF  APOI.LO"  IN  OPEN  AIR  THEATRE  AT  BERKELEY.  CALIFORNIA 

UNDER  DIRECTION  OF  MRS,  H.  S.  MUZZEV 


"COIRT  (II'  C 


KORCK  HI." 
SUA  1)1';  OF 


PAGKANT  AT    lAUN  TON,   MASSACHUSETTS.     THF.  ENTIRK  AUDIENCE  WAS  SEATED  I\    IIIE 
I'lNE  TREES   BORDERING.  ON   THREE   SIDES.  THE  OPEN    LEVEL   ARENA. 


Pageantry  as  an  Educational  Factor 

A  pageant  is  a  municipal  invigorant.  The  community  takes  account  of  itself, 
sums  up  its  assets  and  liabilities,  pulls  itself  up  by  the  roots  to  see  if  it  is  grow- 
ing. "Know  thyself"  is  as  important  for  a  municipality  as  for  an  individual.  As  a 
commonwealth  comprehends  itself  more  fully,  it  more  firmly  grasps  its  powers  and  facul- 
ties; can  better  build  ideals.  Thomas  W.  Stevens,  happily  compares  the  pageant  to  a  long 
road  drawing  itself  up  to  the  summit  of  a  hill  from  which  it  may  review  its  trailing  course 
below.  No  pageant  can  be  purely  parochial — always  there  is  the  universal  in  the  local — 
each  event  is  charged  with  meaning  that  touches  world  forces.  As  a  school  of  educa- 
tion it  must  be  careful  to  portray  rugged,  long-lived  things  of  the  land  which  the  average 
citizen  can  understand.  Otherwise  it  becomes  caviare  to  the  general.  Cubist  vagaries, 
futurist  frills,  post-impressionist  anarchy,  the  morbid  analyses  which  are  the  present  furore 
of  special  students,  in  various  arts,  may  be  used  only  as  a  light  garnish  to  a  robust  car- 
cass of  community  history.  Art  which  is  suitable  for  human  nature's  daily  food  should  be 
offered  the  spectator.  Healthy  art  is  created  by  healthy  people.  This  art  must  be  sane 
and  simple  enough  for  any  child  to  understand  and  assimilate;  not  taxing  too  severely  the 
imagination  of  the  village  blacksmith,  the  tired  business  man,  or  the  fagged  out  shop  girl. 

Among  the  factors  educating  the  American  public  in  the  17th  century  were  the 
clergy  and  courts  and  town  meeting  orators;  in  the  18th  century  to  these  were  added 

77 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

the  schoolhouse  and  newspaper;  in  the  19th  century  came  the  drama  and  the  motion 
picture  and  through  these  means  we  have  a  much  more  uniform  degree  of  common  knowl- 
edge. The  20th  century  contributes  the  pageant — the  best  teacher  of  by-gone  man- 
ners and  customs  yet  devised.  Attics  are  ransacked;  trunks  emptied;  forgotton  relics 
brought  out  of  limbo ;  utensils  of  former  days  re-appear,  (so  often  ludricrously  crude 
in  this  day  of  rapid  invention).  But  an  even  greater  service  is  the  stimulus  of  the  imag- 
ination. A  pageant  which  does  not  set  you  thinking,  is  no  pageant  at  all.  Dr.  Stanley 
Hall  observes  that  the  study  of  history  teaches  that  the  best  things  have  not  yet  hap- 
pened— that  mankind  has  ever  fallen  short  of  its"  ideals.  The  promises  of  life  always  out- 
run performance.  But  inspiration  must  take  root  in  the  past,  to  produce  finer  blossoms  for 
the  future.  The  greatest  educational  and  cultural  benefit  of  the  pageant  is  for  those  who 
take  part  in  the  production.  Things  we  do  for  ourselves  mean  more  than  things  done  for 
us.     "The  song  is  to  the  singer  and  comes  back  most  to  him." 

A  pageant  of  two  hours  and  one-half  can  impart,  especially  to  the  citizens  of  the 
newer  nations  with  which  America  has  blood  connections,  the  ideals  of  democracy  and 
the  stepping  stones  of  history,  better  than  the  combined  efforts  of  school  teachers  can  do 
in  years  by  customary  text-book  methods.  The  whole  municipality  goes  to  school  to- 
gether.   The  academic  pageant  teaches  more  than  facts  of  history;  it  brings  esprit  de 

78  - 


ARAB    SCHOLARS    AWAITING    THE 


MUEZZIN    CALL    TO    I'RA'iER.     PAGEANT    OF    EDUCATION. 
BOSTON    NORMAL   SCHOOL 


RV    MRS.    C.    E.    DALLIN. 


z 

< 

o 


■A 

a 


Pageantry  as  an  Educational  Factor 

corps  into  the  school  and  holds  many  an  unwilling  scholar  who  might  otherwise  have 
wandered  into  mischief,  or  premature  factory  work.  It  satisfies  the  social  instincts,  in- 
creases friendships  between  the  teacher  and  pupil  and  interests  an  outside  audience  in 
the  school  by  an  appeal  to  the  lyrical  imaginative  side.  The  usual  graduation  exercises 
of  our  public  schools  have  lost,  in  a  measure,  their  meaning  and  attractiveness  through 
similarity  and  repetition.  They  have  become  stereotyped  and  barren.  How  much  more 
refreshing  to  both  audience  and  graduates  to  have  the  occasion  of  leaving  school  punct- 
uated by  a  community  drama,  presenting  the  spirit  of  the  municipality  in  which  the 
students  have  grown  up.  This  would  serve  to  strengthen  the  young  person's  ties  to  the 
home  town  by  participation  in  a  memorable  occasion.  So  strong  is  the  dramatic  in- 
stinct in  school  children  to  appear  as  some  distinguished  character  that  teachers  find  it 
easy  to  utilize  this  impulse  by  assigning  principal  parts  in  a  spring  pageant  as  a  reward  of 
merit  in  studies  or  deportment.  A  boy  will  behave  fairly  well  in  order  to  exercise  a 
little  authority  over  his  associates  by  appearing  as  Abraham  Lincoln  or  George  Wash- 
ington. Possibly  this  exhibitional  feature  is  a  drawback  in  school  pageantry.  At  Point 
Loma,  the  Theosophist  Colony  maintains  a  theatre  in  which  musical  artists  perform  con- 
cealed behind  a  solid  bank  of  flowers  to  kill  out  the  desire  of  personal  sensation.  The 
school  pageant  affords  fine  opportunity  for  the  young  fry  to  "show  off"  individually, 

81 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

at  the  expense  of  team  work.  On  the  other  hand,  there  seems  to  be  a  gain  from  the  fact 
that  the  admired  virtues  of  the  distinguished  character  are  impressed  upon  the  youthful 
impersonator  and  the  influence  is  likely  to  cling  for  a  while.  Oftentimes  a  boy  will  be 
known  among  his  schoolmates  by  his  assumed  name  for  years  afterwards. 

The  desire  to  act  a  part  is  early  apparent — we  see  it  in  boys  whooping  through 
the  woods  with  tomahawks  in  hand  and  feathers  in  their  caps;  in  girls  traipsing  up  the 
street  in  their  mother's  dresses  to  visit  and  surprise  their  neighbors;  in  children's  mock 
heroics  behind  the  bam  or  in  the  garret,  repeating  classic  speeches  from  the  school  reader. 
Make-believe  is  a  universal  impulse  of  young  people.  World-heroes  are  not  wholly  lack- 
ing in  this  trait.  Nero  knew  the  value  of  dramatic  tricks;  Napoleon  always  set  the  stage 
before  a  battle;  Columbus  tucked  away  in  his  trunk  a  suit  of  scarlet  that  he  might  observe 
his  landing  on  the  shores  of  India  with  spectacular  effect;  Washington  had  an  eye  for 
stately  entrances  and  exits. 

Ten  per  cent,  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  earn  a  living  directly  or  indirectly 
by  entertaining  the  other  ninety  per  cent.  Within  a  dozen  years  ten  thousand  motion  pic- 
ture theatres  have  sprung  up  in  America.  The  night  school  with  the  camera  is  educating 
as  many  as  the  day  school  with  the  pedagogues.  When  we  come  to  compare  the  motion 
picture  with  the  pageant  picture  the  difference  is  in  favor  of  the  latter,  as  much  as  substance 

82 


^A 

J^ 

«^^-^  ' 

^\mL 

^H^t^p/^ 

3i 

^         ■    "  . ' 

P^^^ir* 

NO   PAGEANT   IS    COMPLETE   WITHOUT  A    CHARMING 
COLONIAL  WEDDING    CEREMONY. 


MATERNAL  LOVE  AND  PATRIOTISM.     AT   LAWRENCE.  MASSA- 
CHUSETTS.  DIRECTED  BV  MISS  ALICE  MicDONAI.D. 


CIIAI  NCKY  OI.COIT   AS    LORD    BURGOYNE  SURRENDKRI  Nti    TO   Gi;\i;K  \1.  (i  \1  I  S  IN  I'ACKANT  OK  SARATOGA. 
GnSIIF.n  ACTORS  AIM'RECIATK  THE  OI'l'ORl  I  Mil  l:S  OK  I'AGEAN  TRV. 


UISTIN- 


Pageantry  as  an  Educational  Factor 

!s  superior  to  shadow.  The  human  touch  can  never  be  supplanted  by  machine-made  films. 
Commenting  on  the  Patterson  strike  pageant  the  New  York  Tribune  said,  complimenting 
the  authors:  Lesser  geniuses  might  have  hired  a  hall  and  exhibited  moving  pictures  of  the 
Patterson  strike.    Saturday  night's  pageant  transported  the  strike  itself  into  New  York. 

In  the  school  room  the  maximum  of  efficiency  depends  largely  upon  the  number  of 
students  in  the  class.  There  is  a  focus  of  time  and  numbers  as  well  as  of  space.  The  ques- 
tion of  size  has  a  bearing  upon  the  best  results  of  the  pageant.  Magnificent  as  were  the 
stupendous  spectacles  of  Quebec  and  Philadelphia,  these  manifestly  can  be  given  only 
in  the  largest  American  cities.  To  accomplish  its  mission  completely,  the  pageant 
must  be  possible  for  any  community.  Indeed,  the  small  town  seems  to  be  the  most 
promising  soil  for  its  growth.  The  standard  for  a  comfortable,  home-made,  well-bred, 
refined  and  satisfying  pageant  seems  to  be:  A  cast  of  about  two  hundred,  an  audience 
of  about  two  thousand  and  duration  of  about  two  hours.  The  phlegmatic  English- 
man or  reflective  German  may  sit  through  a  dramatic  production  continuing  three  or 
four  hours,  but  the  nervous  and  feverish  American  temperament  begins  to  get  uneasy  af- 
ter two  hours  stationed  in  one  spot.  Almost  any  community  can  muster  two  hundred 
participants  for  a  holiday  festival,  and  with  judicious  advertising  attract  an  audience 
€f  two  thousand.    When  an  audience  reaches  five  thousand  it  becomes  sprawling,  top- 

85 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

heavy,  noisy;  speeches  cannot  be  heard;  the  essential  intimacy  between  actor  and 
audience  is  lost.  At  some  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  theatres  where  portions  of  the  audience 
were  three  hundred  feet  from  the  stage  and  two  hundred  above,  actors  were  obliged  to 
wear  heroic  masques  as  facial  expression  could  not  be  understood.  At  the  Quebec  pageant 
it  was  a  trying  strain  upon  the  ears  to  hear  the  speakers  talking  against  the  wind. 

As  education  aims  to  call  forth  and  harmonize  all  the  powers  of  the  individual,  so  the 
pageant  must  aim  to  enlist  and  permeate  the  whole  life  of  the  community.  The  pa- 
geant is  not  designed  to  store  the  head  with  loads  of  "learned  lumber",  but  to  stimulate 
and  enrich  the  mind  through  agreeable  sensations;  not  to  shatter  cherished  traditions  but 
to  maintain  the  best  ideals  of  the  Past  and  carry  them  on  to  the  future  purified  and  en- 
nobled. As  an  educational  factor,  the  pageant  should  review,  in  living  form,  the  manifold 
life  processes  and  become  a  center  from  which  fine  influences  radiate.  The  advanced 
and  liberal  American  school  system  encourages  the  pageant  of  the  race  by  rejecting,  as 
unfit  to  guide  the  youth  of  the  land,  the  woman  who  elects  to  exercise  her  normal  right 
to  motherhood.  But  educators  in  community  ideals  by  means  of  pageantry  are  subject  to 
no  constricting  regulations  of  School  Committees,  Boards  of  Education  or  other  unnat^ 
ural  City  Fathers. 


86 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Pageant  as  a  Nursery  of  Patriotism,. 

The  right  patriotism  consists  in  the  delight  which  springs  from  contributing  our  peculiar  and 
fegitimate  advantages  to  the  benefit  of  humanity. 

Emerson. 

HE  new  is  wearing  off  the  New  World.  America  is  growing  old. 
Uncle  Sam  begins  to  feel  his  age.  Bi-centennial,  quarter-millennial, 
even  tercentennial  anniversaries  are  being  observed  in  many  commu- 
nities throughout  the  land.  For  a  municipal  birthday  party  the  pag- 
eant appears  as  the  festival  de  luxe.  Indeed  there  seems  to  be  a 
Meteoric  shower  of  pageants,  so  many  recognize  its  power  to  fan  the  flame  of  patriotism.  Dr. 
Johnson  once  defined  patriotism  as  the  last  resort  of  the  scoundrel.  A  recent  writer  con- 
tends that,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Martians,  the  two  greatest  obstacles  to  progress  on  the 
earth  are  patriotism  and  religion.  As  mankind  grows  older  patriotism  extends  its  bound- 
aries beyond  national  lines  and  becomes  a  universal  world  force.  But  to  manifest  a  love 
of  home  and  a  desire  to  serve  one's  country  is  the  time-honored  definition  of  the  word. 
These  feelings,  even  if  restricted  devotion,  should  yet  be  cherished  by  suitable  observ- 
ances of  national  holidays.     Philip  Nolan  has  not  became  a  hero. 


s 

1 

87 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

The  pageant  is  pre-eminently  fitted  for  welcoming  home  a  hero,  opening  a  fair, 
celebrating  a  victory,  inaugurating  a  great  undertaking,  or  observing  an  anniversary. 
Fourth  of  July  is  an  especially  appropriate  season.  The  pageant  is  safe  and  sane — a  re- 
served, wholesome,  generous  form  of  patriotic  display,  dignified  and  artistic — not  reckless 
and  unguarded  chauvinism.  It  vibrates  to  the  iron  chord  of  freedom  and  offers  ample 
outlet  for  Young  America  to  let  the  eagle  scream  without  inviting  the  calamities  at- 
tendant upon  the  old-fashioned  cannon-cracker  and  sky-rocket  celebrations.  Arthur 
Farwell  recommends  that  holiday  noise  be  converted  into  music.  Since  many  cities  in 
America  have  passed  ordinances  prohibiting  the  sale  of  dangerous  explosives,  a  substi- 
tute must  be  provided  to  preserve  the  living  spirit  of  Civic  Liberty.  There  must  be  some 
escape  valve  for  the  ebullient  enthusiasm  which  "the  day  we  celebrate"  arouses.  But  the  lid 
never  flies  off  in  pageantry.  It  is  not  a  sporting  event.  In  fact,  it  is  rather  reactionary,  serving 
as  a  gentle  hint  that  American  youth  are  speeding  up  to  the  limit  in  their  entertainments. 
A  public-spu-ited  citizen  or  Lady  Bountiful  can  scarcely  make  a  nobler  present  to  the  town 
than  to  become  sponsor  for  a  pageant  of  patriotism  on  Fourth  of  July.  The  holiday  then 
takes  on  a  beautiful  form,  and  becomes  a  great  civic  rite,  through  which  the  non-English 
speaking  immigrants  to  the  Land  of  Promise  may  be  taught  their  parts  as  "flag-makers 
of  the  nation".     To  "Americanize"  should  be— to  teach  the  meaning  of  liberty,  equality, 

88 


'HOME  FROM  THE  WAR,' 


PAGEANT  OF  WARWICK.  MASSACHUSETTS.    BY  MISS  ANNE  B.  C.  FISHER.    A  CIVIL  WAR  SCENE 
OFTEN  CONTRIBUTES  AN  APPROPRIATE  NO  IE  OF  PATHOS. 


THK     PAGKANT    AT    HRAITI.l-.HORO.    VKRMONT.    WAS    CIVEN     ACAINST    A 
A     DKTAII,    OF    Till-.  C.R  WD     \k\I\'     AROISKS 


SHAGCY    MOIMAIN 
P\TRIOIlSM 


AS     HACki;R()l  Nl). 


The  Pageant  as  a  Nursery  of  Patriotism 

fraternity — the  word  should  not  stand,  as  it  frequently  seems  to,  for  the  reverence  of  hard 
cash,  the  cultivation  of  a  taste  for  crude  pleasures,  the  loss  of  refinement,  love,  gentleness, 
and  respect  for  parents  which  are  the  birthmark  of  many  European  immigrants. 

Patriotism  is  a  plant  of  slow  growth.  In  America  while  the  Colonies  were  de- 
pendent on  Great  Britain,  they  were,  for  the  most  part,  loyal  to  the  mother  country,  and 
their  display  of  patriotism  took  the  form  of  celebrating  the  King's  birthday,  burning  the 
effigy  of  Guy  Fawkes  on  the  5th  of  November,  or  holding  a  mammoth  barbecue  when- 
ever they  had  gained  a  victory  over  the  French.  After  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
and  successful  outcome  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  exultation  at  throwing  off  the  British 
yoke  was  worked  out  of  the  system  in  boisterous  enthusiasm  which  in  later  years  might 
have  been  known  as  "jingoism".  The  Cornwallis  festival  which  came  in  the  corn-roast- 
ing month  of  October,  intended  to  keep  alive  the  memory  of  the  surrender  of  the  British 
commander,  was  the  occasion  of  much  spread-eagle  oratory  against  England. 

The  elation  of  the  youthful  nation  was  heightened  by  the  naval  victory  over 
Great  Britain  which  gave  equal  rights  upon  the  seas,  and  by  the  victories  of  the  Mexican 
War  which  brought  about  the  logical  territorial  expansion  of  the  country.  But  it  was  not 
until  after  the  consolidation  of  the  original  Union  of  States  which  had  been  threatened 
with  disruption  by  the  slavery  question  that  America  acquired  a  national  consciousness. 

91 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

The  centennial  exposition,  which  foreshadowed  many  of  the  elements  of  our  modern 
pageant,  proved  to  the  world  that  the  United  States  had  come  to  take  a  place  as  a  leading 
power  among  the  foremost  nations.  To  one  who  has  followed  up  the  hundreds  of  pageants 
given  within  the  last  five  years  the  spirit  of  America  is  vividly  portrayed  in  this 
way.  Spots  of  color  in  our  history — such  as  Frontenac  at  Quebec,  Blennerhasset  and 
his  dream  of  empire,  the  Owenites  in  Indiana,  Endicott  cutting  the  cross  from  the 
English  flag,  voyageurs  leaving  Ripon  for  the  West,  the  "Angel  of  the  Battlefield"  at  Ox- 
ford, Daniel  Boone  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  Franklin  at  the  Court  of  France,  Fra  Juni- 
pero  at  Los  Angeles — these  come  to  have  a  fresh  and  livelier  meaning. 

A  nation  is  known  by  its  heroes.  Patriotic  spell-binders  shout:  A  nation  which 
cares  not  for  its  past,  has  no  present  and  deserves  no  future.  Anyhow  we  are  obliged  to 
shoulder  the  heritage  of  former  generations,  whether  we  will  or  no.  All  that  we  do  is  the 
culmination  of  a  long  series  of  events  that  have  gone  before. 

Our  deeds  still  travel  with  us  from  afar 

And  what  we  have  been,  makes  us  what  we  are. 

Therefore  it  cannot  be  amiss  to  learn  something  of  the  heroes  who  have  guided 
and  shaped  the  destinies  of  the  race,  and  profit  by  their  lessons.  Regard  for  noble 
achievements  is  a  conservative  safeguard  against  revolution.     But  patriotic  citizens 

92 


The  Pageant  as  a  Nursery  of  Patriotism 

should  never  permit  a  pageant  to  commercialize,  cold-bloodedly,  the  profound  experiences 
and  tragic  events  of  the  fathers.    That  is  like  selling  the  birthright. 

The  historian,  George  Sheldon,  now  in  his  95th  year,  claims  prenatal  reminiscence 
of  at  least  two  hundred  years.  When  he  went  to  the  Deerfield  pageant  he  could  see 
himself  grappling  in  the  hand-to-hand  struggles  of  the  17th  century  with  sin  and 
Redskins,  the  devil  and  the  Dutch;  then  in  the  18th  century  he  saw  himself  hurrying  with 
the  minute  men  to  Bunker  Hill;  in  1840,  he  joined  in  the  festive  dance  to  celebrate  the 
Cheapside  victory.  There  is  an  inherited  consciousness  if  our  minds  were  refined  enough  to 
realize  it,  or  we  could  keep  quiet  long  enough  to  hear  it.  Stevenson,  you  remember,  called 
this  subliminal  personality  the  "homunculus".  He  says  in  the  "Manse":  Our  conscious 
years  are  but  a  moment  in  the  history  of  the  elements  that  build  us.  Hawthorne 
wished  that  he  might  live  ten  years  at  a  time  in  each  of  the  seven  American  genera- 
tions preceeding  him.  Uncle  Sam  would  say:  "When  I  was  at  Yorktown";  "When  I  was 
with  Jackson  at  New  Orleans";  "When  I  was  with  Scott  at  Chapultepec".  Why  should 
not  his  plain  American  nieces  and  nephews  also  assert  their  longevity  and  palingenesis 
for  pageant  purposes? 

In  Shakespeare's  day  female  characters  were  impersonated  by  downy-cheeked  boys. 
Woman's  theatrical  rights  have  advanced  in  three  centuries.   Dramatis  personae  are  today 

93 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

mostly  feminine.  Pageantry  in  America  is  dominated  by  a  handful  of  men  and  several  him- 
dred  women.  It  is  a  demonstration  of  the  fermenting  feminist  movement.  To  inquu-e 
what  are  the  patriotic  ideals  of  the  emancipated  woman  may  border  upon  the  humorous. 
Does  the  larger  opportunity  imply  a  lesser  obligation  to  home  and  family?  Those 
inspiring,  well-rounded  heroines  whom  the  pageant  revives — Priscilla  Mullins,  Betsy 
Ross,  Martha  Washington,  Dolly  Madison — inevitably  raise  the  question :  Should  the 
pageant,  as  an  expression  of  community  ideals,  exalt  that  phase  of  feminism  which 
turns  the  back  upon  the  domestic  virtues  in  the  feverish  reach  for  sensational  publicity 
(and  marks  the  decline  of  nationality),  or  should  the  pageant  throw  the  weight  of  its 
influence  to  uphold  the  sweetness,  charm  and  sanctity  of  the  home,  on  which  America 
was  founded  and  has  been  preserved! 

Any  city  in  the  United  States  may  give  a  patriotic  pageant  if  a  level  area,  at 
least  200  feet  square  can  be  found  adjoining  an  expanse  of  lake  or  ample  river.  Take 
some  of  the  most  prominent  events  of  American  history,  such  as  the  Landing  of  Co- 
lumbus, the  Arrival  of  the  Pilgrims,  Signing  of  the  Declaration;  introduce  one  or 
two  local  scenes  bearing  upon  national  affairs;  find  some  Indian  legend  connected  with 
the  locality  (Indians  must  surely  be  counted  in — the  American  penny  without  the 
sachem's  head  would  not  seem  stranger  than  an  American  pageant  without  its  band  of 

94 


PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  ADMITTING  NEVADA  INTO  THE  UNION  IN  PROCESSIONAL  PAGEANT  AT  RENO. 


FRKNCH  VOYAGKl'RS  AT  I'AGK  \NT  OF  WINONA.  MINNESOTA.        F..\AMI'I.I-:  OF  FRONTIERSMAN  COSTUME. 


The  Pageant  as  a  Nursery  of  Patriotism 

Indians);  call  out  a  detail  from  the  Grand  Army;  enlist  representatives  of  various 
nationalities  which  colonize  in  every  city  for  a  suite  of  folk  dances;  give  a  sumptuous 
court  scene  in  one  of  the  countries  from  which  America  was  colonized,  introducing 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  Henry  the  Fourth  of  France,  or  Queen  Elizabeth;  as  a  finale, 
let  Uncle  Sam  review  the  pageant  and  the  Goddess  of  Liberty  lead  in  singing  "America". 
A  simple,  coherent,  magnificent  entertainment  is  at  once  outlined.  A  good  treatise  upon 
Fourth  of  July  pageantry  by  William  C.  Langdon  has  been  issued  by  the  Russell  Sage 
Foundation.  "Patriotic  Plays  and  Pageants  for  Young  People"  by  Constance  D'Arcy 
MacKay  is  another  valuable  work. 

Patriotism  is  expressed  in  many  good  deeds  dying  tongueless  every  day.  Peace 
hath  her  victories  no  less  renowned  than  war.  But  the  loudest  cheers  are  given  the 
gold-laced,  battle-scarred  hero.  How  to  square  with  the  humanitarian,  educational  and 
peaceful  ideals  of  the  pageant  a  reproduction  of  war  scenes — how  to  arouse  patriotic  emo- 
tions without  inciting  to  bloodshed  or  violence— is  a  vexatious  problem.  This  opens  up 
to  the  pageant  promoter  the  old  question:  Is  war  a  nursery  of  vigor,  loyalty,  conscience 
and  the  finer  virtues — or  does  war  exploit  the  bestial  side  of  man  and  deplete  the  life 
blood  of  the  nation?  On  one  side  are  pale  advocates  of  the  disarmament  of  nations  who 
are  horrified  to  read,  in  the  gentle  Ruskin,  that  the  Muse  of  history  has  coupled  together 

97 


\ 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

peace  and  sensuality,  peace  and  selfishness,  peace  and  corruption,  peace  and  death ;  on  the 
other,  are  bristling  Bernhardis  who  would  hate  to  see  this  earth  a  "vast  hutch  of  gentle, 
harmless,  tender-hearted,  highly-intellectual  rabbits".  Does  a  thrilling,  vivid  battle 
scene  cater  to  the  primitive  side  of  human  nature?  Can  the  grand  ideals,  for  which 
battles  have  been  fought,  be  so  effectively  impressed  in  any  other  way?  Can  any  cause 
live  long  that  is  not  worth  fighting  for? 

History,  which  purports  to  explain  man's  progress  from  darkness  to  light,  is  chiefly 
a  record  of  the  wrongs  which  man  has  done — his  greed,  oppression,  conquests,  false  am- 
bitions, diseases.  We  read  history  to  avoid  the  mistakes  of  our  predecessors.  To  un- 
tangle the  snarl  of  prejudices,  shams,  personal  antagonisms,  family  jealousies,  social  discord, 
especially  rampant  in  old  towns  where  people  have  grown  to  know  each  other's  failings  too 
well;  to  bring  about  an  entente  cordiale  between  persons,  cities,  and  nations;  remove  false 
barriers  of  civilization;  rid  the  heart  of  contempt  and  race  antagonism;  reconcile  old 
friends  and  introduce  new  ones,  should  be  by-products  of  the  pageant,  which  may  allay 
the  legacy  of  hate,  at  the  same  time  knitting  a  web  of  patriotism. 


98 


CHAPTER  V. 


Pageantry  from  the  Sociologist's  Standpoint. 

Unlamented  pass  the  proud  away, 

The  gaze  of  fools,  the  pageant  of  a  day, 

So  perish  all  whose  breast  ne'er  learned  to  glow, 
For  others  good  or  melt  at  other's  woe. 


Pope. 


PAGEANT  socializes  a  community  and  raises  the  efficiency  of  the 
race  by  organizing  public  leisure  for  public  benefit.  With  shorter 
hours  of  labor  comes  greater  opportunity  for  the  artistic  and  enjoy- 
able side  of  life.  "Liberty  is  leisure",  observed  Demosthenes.  A 
man's  quality  is  shown  in  the  way  be  spends  his  holidays.  Too 
many  make  them  "alcohoUdays".  Natura  non  mutatur.  Satan  finds  mischief  still  for  idle 
hands  to  do — hence,  the  importance  of  sane,  wholesome  use  of  increasing  leisure.  An 
effort  to  lighten  the  lot  of  the  working  man  must  be  attended  with  an  effort  to  find  occu- 
pation for  the  energies  of  the  loafing  man.  The  pageant  utilizes  leisure  social  energy  to 
leaven  the  town.  That  is  its  chief  merit  in  the  minds  of  many  earnest  workers  impelled  by 
high  desire — descendants  of  those  Puritans  who  could  see  no  holiness  in  beauty.  Pageantry 
as  a  human  festival  has  an  obivious  bearing  upon  democratic  government. 


99 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

There  is  no  caste  in  art.  A  pageant  is  an  entertainment,  to  which  all  contribute— 
farmer  and  historian,  poet  and  dancing  girl,  musician  and  school  marm.  Humanity  is 
touched  at  many  points.  Rich  and  poor,  high  and  low  join  hands  in  a  common  purpose 
at  a  mammoth  garden-party.  Even  the  family  horse,  the  oxen,  and  house-dog  join  in, 
reminding  one  of  the  octogenarian  donkey,  which,  having  outlived  his  usefulness,  walked 
up  and  down  the  acropolis  beside  the  workers,  in  order  to  share  in  the  public  enthusiasm  of 
restoring  the  Parthenon.  The  spirit  of  the  occasion  is  lost  if  everyone  does  not  have  some 
interest, — either  in  preparation  or  participation,  or  at  least  by  family  connection  with 
those  preparing  and  participating.  Mixing  with  one's  fellows  makes  for  mutual  benefit. 
Something  more  is  needed  for  a  complete  grasp  of  life  than  to  know  only  a  circle  of  one's 
equals.  To  uplift  the  lower  classes  is  possibly  less  important  than  to  call  down  the  snob- 
bish, superior  (so-called)  classes  of  select  society  who  draw  their  sku*ts  away  from  the 
"vuglar  herd"  from  whom  they  spnmg.  The  tendency  of  America  is  toward  aristoc- 
racy; a  few  are  bom  aristocrats  with  democratic  leanings,  but  many  more  are  bom 
democrats  with  aristocratic  leanings.  People's  friendships  will  always  be  directed  by 
their  common  tastes.  But  against  sentiments  of  shallow  clannishness  it  is  missionary  ser- 
vice to  emphasize  the  rugged  solidarity  of  the  race.  The  salutary  influence  of  pag- 
eants comes  in  giving  a  cohesiveness  to  community  life  which  grows  more  complicated 

100 


.^  -■  'y 

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. 

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i 

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B^P^n^M^H 

9E'''f 

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Jk 

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1-     ' 

|l 

K^ 

tin^A^d 

c  2 

H  X 


si 

z  < 


nil',  I'\i;k.\nt  at  osiikosii,  Wisconsin,  in  miss  m.oida  j   i'ii:  tI'.us.  w  as  tkka  tki)  w  nil  c  ii  \KMi\(i  siMi'i.Kin' 


Pageantry  from  the  Sociologist's  Standpoint 

every  day.  To  fuse  the  racial  elements  into  an  ethnic  ensemble,  pageantry  must  pull 
toward  the  centre  against  forces  constantly  tending  to  pull  apart.  Nothing  is  better  cal- 
culated to  cement  the  sympathies  of  a  people  and  to  accentuate  their  homogeneity  than 
the  cultivation  of  folk  festivals  which  compel  them  to  pause  and  reflect  upon  the  sacrifices 
by  which  true  ideals  of  liberty  have  been  promulgated  and  realize  something  of  the  strug- 
gles and  trials  of  those  who  have  fought  for  the  faith.  Pageantry  is  medicine  for  mind, 
body  and  soul — a  community  tonic  that  will  effectively  revive  a  village  which  may  appear 
to  be  walking  in  its  sleep.  Old  fogies,  hunkers,  slow  pokes,  antediluvian  moss-backs 
will  be  quickened  with  ambition  to  catch  up  with  the  world  which  is  running  away 
from  them. 

In  times  of  war  or  periods  of  great  danger,  the  community  unites  itself  in  a  common 
front  through  necessity,  and  drives  out  poisons  in  the  body  politic;  but  there  is  need,  in 
times  of  peace,  to  strengthen  the  gregarious  instinct  by  a  common  cleansing  purpose.  The 
word  "commonwealth"  means  common  welfare;  to  promote  the  good  of  each  for  the  benefit 
of  all;  to  preserve  the  human  touch  by  living  in  a  spirit  of  neighborliness;  to  seek  beauty  in 
order  that  all  may  share  it.  The  commonwealth  has  performed  only  half  its  functions  in 
the  protection  of  life  and  property.  There  must  be  provision  for  rational  relaxations 
to  divert  the  multitude  from  sensual  temptations  and  promote  a  relish  for  exercises  and 

103        ' 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry- 
pastimes  that  make  for  health  of  body  and  content  of  mind.    In  America,  the  national 
game  of  baseball  supplies  this  need  for  men  and  boys.    The  pageant  is  for  women. 
Police  have  interfered  but  once  in  pageantry,  when  some  dancing  girls  were  gently,  but 
firmly,  reminded  that  their  draperies  were  a  trifle  scarce,  even  for  a  Chicago  audience. 

Pageantry  touches  the  sensitive  race  question.  For  years  benevolent  sociologists 
in  the  South  have  wrestled  in  vain  with  the  problem  of  harmonizing  the  black  and  white 
races.  Pageant  masters  have  not  realized  the  Utopian  dream.  In  the  West,  however,  the 
Indian  has  frequently  been  introduced  into  the  pageant — perhaps  because  the  "noble  Red- 
man", as  the  original  American,  displays  a  touch  of  scorn  toward  the  paleface  conqueror, 
whereas  the  black  man  bends  the  knee.  The  white  race  holds  a  different  attitude  of 
mind  toward  the  red  man  from  that  toward  the  black.  Southerners  have  taken  colored 
children  into  their  pageants  in  some  cases,  and  have  ridden  in  coaches  driven  by  colored 
Jehus.  That  is  about  the  extent  of  their  collaboration.  Hampton  students  are  traveling 
about  the  country  with  a  pageant — the  Negro's  Gift  to  the  Nation.  At  a  New  England 
pageant  when  the  choice  came  between  introducing  a  colored  boy  or  a  white  girl  wear- 
ing a  black  mask  it  was  voted  to  use  the  black  mask.  Racial,  cultural,  economic  antipa- 
thies implanted  in  mankind  die  hard.  The  ghetto  still  exists.  Each  nationality  takes  a 
different  point  of  view.    The  ancestors  of  the  despised  black  man  living  in  Africa  made 

104 


Pageantry  from  the  Sociologist's  Standpoint 

succulent  pot-pie  of  the  white  man,  considering  him  good  for  nothing  better.  Scorn  of  race 
is  often  carried  down  to  the  point  where  one  merely  conceals  politely  his  contempt  for 
his  neighbor.  The  discipline  of  life's  experiences  has  not  taught  the  unthinking  the  harm 
of  perpetuating  such  epithets  as  Sheeny,  Paddy,  Dago,  Nigger,  Mucker.  A  Boston 
woman  needlessly  displayed  her  inferiority  by  refusing  to  occupy  her  seat  at  a  pageant 
which  happened  to  be  next  to  a  gentleman  of  color  and  created  a  scene  until  she  was 
given  a  place  four  seats  removed  from  the  offending  party.  There  should  be  a  code  of 
pageant  etiquette.  Camp-followers  who  prey  upon  any  large  gathering  will  be  in  evidence 
with  catch-penny  gimcracks  on  the  approach  to  the  pageant  grounds.  At  one  of  the  largest 
pageants  a  conspicuous  sign  "Beware  of  Pickpockets"  reminded  visitors  that  mankind  has 
not  yet  reached  millennial  perfection.  Another  notice  not  out  of  order  is:  "Please 
do  not  smoke".  Incense  to  Lady  Nicotine  should  be  offered  only  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
company.  On  one  occasion  a  pageant  mistress,  just  before  the  opening  scene,  distrib- 
uted chewing  gum  to  all  the  principals — a  delectable  practice  if  the  fletcherizing  is  con- 
fined behind  the  shrubbery. 

The  pageant  is  good  propaganda  for  winning  devotion  to  a  beneficent  cause, 
voicing  the  interminable  wrongs  of  the  world,  sowing  seeds  of  discontent,  promulgating 
anarchy,  or  any  incendiary  purpose.    To  paraphrase  Hamlet:    The  pageant's  the  thing 

105 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

wherein  to  catch  the  conscience  of  the  pubUc.  The  Industrial  Workers  of  the  World 
presented  recently,  at  Madison  Square  Garden,  an  industrial  pageant  reproducing  the 
Patterson  strike,  and  enacted  by  one  thousand  workmen.  The  character  of  the  public 
appeal  will  be  seen  in  these  three  episodes: 

Episode  1 — Mills  alive;  workers  dead;  workers  begin  to  think.  Episode  2 — Mills 
dead;  workers  alive;  strikers  in  fight  with  policemen;  Modestino  killed.  Episode 3 — Fu- 
neral of  Modestino;  strikers  drop  crimson  carnations  on  coffin  to  symbolize  their  life  blood. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  how  feelings  could  be  harrowed  up  by  such  scenes  and  an 
audience  inflamed  to  a  high  pitch  of  excitement.  Socialists  find  a  bow  of  promise  in  the 
co-operation  of  the  communal  pageant,  and  espedally  do  they  insist  upon  the  free  perform- 
ance. During  the  production  at  Bennington,  Vermont,  a  socialist  harangued  his 
followers  at  the  public  square,  shouting:  "By  what  right  do  the  rich  dress  themselves 
in  old-fashioned  clothes  and  ask  that  the  poor  shall  pay  to  see  them?" 

Charitable  foundations  have  been  established  to  redeem  rural  districts  by  focusing 
attention  upon  the  beautiful  side  of  life.  Under  the  direction  of  competent  leaders  the 
Civic  Art  Movement  may  weave  color,  symbolism,  imaginative  joy  into  the  pastimes  of  the 
humble.  Custom  gives  the  clergy  the  lead  in  providing  entertainment  for  the  Sabbath 
holiday — but  who  shall  take  charge  of  the  weekly  half -holidays?   This  is  where  a  clever 

106 


PURITAN  FATHERS  TRADING  WITH  INDIANS.     PAGEANT  OF  DARIEN,  CONNECTICUT.     BV  WILLIAM  C.  LANGDON- 
SMOKING  THE   PEACE   PIPE   MAKES   A   PLEASING   CEREMONY. 


PIONEERS    MIGRATING   WESTWARI:). 

THli 


I'ACivWr    AT    nKKRl'IF.r.D. 
OX    CART  IS  ALWAYS    A   PICl 


MASSACHLSKTTS.     BY 
LRliSQUE   I-EATURE. 


MISS    MARGARET    M.   EAGER 


Pageantry  from  the  Sociologist's  Standpoint 

pageant-master  finds  his  opportunity.  Any  fool  can  work  but  it  takes  genius  to  play. 
The  need  of  better  recreation  opportunities  for  the  masses  arises  from  oppressive  indus- 
trial conditions,  unsanitary  tenement-houses  and  bar-rooms.  Monotony  and  restriction 
of  lives  are  sources  of  mental  and  physical  abnormality.  Demand  for  freer  play  for 
mind  and  body  is  a  demand  for  the  very  breath  of  life.  How  to  utilize  this  newer  relax- 
ation and  larger  freedom  to  release  moral,  spiritual,  physical  energies  for  development,  and 
bring  out  latent  powers  of  the  community,  is  the  problem  that  confronts  the  sociologist. 
With  each  generation  new  visions  appear  toward  which  the  old  world  eagerly  presses  on. 
Civilization  carries  in  its  wake  a  train  of  civic  ailments  which  call  loudly  for  volunteers  in 
the  battle  for  saving  principles.  A  generation  passes  off  the  stage  a  self -labeled  failure  if 
it  does  not  make  the  world  a  better  place  for  the  next  generation  to  live  in.  Many  are  ral- 
lying under  the  aegis  of  the  pageant  to  help  this  forward  movement.  One  prominent 
master  always  concludes  his  pageants  with  an  open  air  clinic  to  diagnose  community 
disorders  and  demonstrate  local  remedies. 

Each  person  comes  to  the  pageant  seeking  a  different  source  of  satisfaction — the 
music  lover  rejoices  in  some  chant  or  aria  well  rendered;  the  politician  takes  a  part  to 
advertise  himself  in  public  favor;  the  genealogist  comes  in  search  of  missing  ancestors; 
the  artist  to  see  high  color  harmonies  exemplified;  the  settlement  worker  finds  an  oppor- 

109 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

tunity  for  brightening  the  stunted  Hves  of  children  of  the  slums.  Its  value  lies  partly  in 
the  length  of  time  that  is  required  for  preparation.  Interest  must  be  sustained  for 
months  together — sometimes  for  a  year. 

The  pageant  finds  favor  with  those  who  welcome  the  return  of  outdoor  life.  In- 
creasing athletics  produce  a  weather-proof  race  that  enjoys  al  fresco  performances.  We 
are  growing  to  be  "bigger-than-weather."  Man,  as  Nature  began  him,  was  an  outdoor 
animal,  but  civilization  gradually  encased  him  in  a  shell.  The  open  air  spirit  says: 
"You  must  not  bring  to  the  pageant  your  grievances,  your  cares,  sorrows,  and  grocer's 
bills  of  the  present  day— bring  only  a  receptive  mood  for  the  beautiful,  the  good,  the 
true."    That  was  the  Greek  ideal. 

As  one  stands  upon  the  Acropolis  at  Athens  looking  down  upon  the  magnificent 
ruins  of  the  theatre  of  Dionysius  and  pictures  the  scene  when  Pericles  and  the  Flower  of 
the  Golden  Age  gathered  under  the  open  sky  in  the  elaborately  carved  auditorium  to  wit- 
ness the  Antigone  of  Sophocles  presented  against  a  background  of  olive-lined  roadways, 
the  Pentelic  hills  and  distant  Aegean  Sea,  and  then  harks  back  to  a  typical  American 
playhouse,  poorly  ventilated,  gaudily  furnished  with  plush  curtains,  roccoco  embellish- 
ments, flap-seated  chairs,  electric  bulbs,  and  nickel-in-the-slot  allurements,  the  supremacy 
and  dignity  of  Grecian  civilization  in  the  matter  of  dramatic  entertainments  comes  forcibly 

110 


Pageantry  from  the  Sociologist's  Standpoint 

home.  Our  modern  theatre  seems  a  cheaply  artificial  make-shift.  Of  course  the  climate 
is  the  secret  of  the  unhappy  comparison.  Our  winter  theatre-going  season  precludes  an 
open-air  auditorium;  but  during  the  summer  months  the  awakening  appreciation  of 
Greek  ideals,  found  in  popular  out-of-door  pageants,  warrants  the  prophecy  that 
torch-bearers  of  dramatic  progress  will  find  this  a  most  fruitful  field  to  exploit  and  may- 
hap save  the  actor  who  is  being  driven  oif  the  boards  by  the  "movies." 

The  pageant  makes  an  especial  appeal  to  children.  One  of  the  inherent  impulses 
of  childhood  is  to  assume  a  character— to  pretend.  The  mimetic  instinct  was  flogged  out 
of  Puritan  youngsters  who  "took  off"  the  parson  or  tithing  man;  the  trait  still  lives  and 
now  the  theory  is,  that  the  assumption  of  a  character  during  the  plastic  period 
may  help  to  mould  mind  and  body.  Children  are  so  brimming  over  with  dramatic 
feeling  it  is  usually  more  difficult  to  stop  them  than  start  them,  especially  in  dancing. 
While  children  cannot  impersonate  adult  characters  with  fidelity,  they  exhilarate  the 
spectator  by  their  spontaneous  and  ingenuous  eagerness  to  play  such  parts.  One  of 
the  refreshing  sights  in  the  country  is  to  see  ten  thousand  school  girls  of  New  York 
holding  their  May  festival  at  Central  Park — hopping  about  like  animated  pease-blossoms 
in  their  parti-colored  dresses.  Certain  features  of  the  pageant  belong  peculiarly  and  solely 
to  children.    The  lithe  and  dainty  fairy  dances  cannot  be  given  by  grown-ups.    One  of 

111 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

the  happiest  scenes  ever  given  in  a  pageant  was  the  impersonation  of  the  marriage  of  Tom 
Thumb  and  wife  at  Maiden,  Massachusetts.  Everybody  threw  kisses  to  the  bride.  Tiny 
Indians  in  feathers  imitating  the  Big  Chief  are  sure  to  win  an  audience.  In  schools  like 
the  School  of  Ethical  Culture  in  New  York,  or  the  Fitchburg  Normal  School,  children 
have  presented  such  classic  epics  as  King  Arthur's  Knights  of  the  Round  Table,  the 
Trojan  War,  or  the  Quest  of  the  Holy  Grail.  The  Noah's  Ark  pageant  in  which  ani- 
mal characters  are  taken  by  children  provides  a  very  amusing  entertainment  at  the 
same  time  for  the  elders.  A  Mother  Goose  pageant  was  given  at  Greensboro,  North 
Carolina,  and  a  Baby  Pageant  at  Asbury  Park.  Constance  D'Arcy  MacKay  has  written 
a  splendid  pageant  for  children  portraying  how  great  men  of  America  have  succeeded  in 
the  face  of  tremendous  difficulties.  Persons  in  middle  life  should  take  a  cue  from  the 
"kids"  and  enter  into  a  pageant  with  the  hurrah  of  children  coming  out  of  school. 


112 


DANCING  "BATS"   PERSONIFYING   WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM,   MASSACHUSETTS        THE  SPACIOUS   PAGKANI'   GROUNDS 

WERE.    ON    A   PRIVATE  ESTATE   BY    THE   RIVER 


y  5 

■—  y 


y  y 


y  -^ 


a  < 


y.  -1 

P  < 


<■  o 

.■  H 

i^  a. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Pageant  as  a  Moral  Agent. 

Sometimes  he  thinks  that  Heaven  the  vision  sent;  and  ordered  all  the  pageants  as  they  went, 
Sometimes,  that  only  'twas  wild  Fancy's  play ;  the  loose  and  scattered  relics  of  the  day. 

Crowley. 


EEMS  just  as  if  we  were  going  to  meetin'  ",  remarked  one  fine  New 
England  lady  to  another  as  they  wended  their  way  to  the  pageant 
grounds  on  a  summer  afternoon.  That  tells  in  a  sentence  the  story 
of  the  moral  value  of  pageantry.  The  oil  of  the  sanctuary  is  a 
chrism  upon  it.  The  salt  of  the  earth  who  have  never  entered 
the  portals  of  a  theatrical  play-house  will  take  part  in  a  pageant.  They  look  upon  it  as 
sanctified  drama — acceptable  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord.  Although  religious  drama  may 
shock  the  sense  of  veneration  of  supersensitive  persons,  the  Passion  Play  at  Oberammergau 
seems  a  reverent  external  manifestation  of  inherent  piety.  Devout  enthusiasts  see  in  a 
pageant  a  prayer  of  aspiration.  Pageants  may  soon  be  given  on  Sunday  afternoons — even  in 
Connecticut.  The  local  clergy  not  only  countenance  this  form  of  entertainment  by  their 
presence  and  participation,  but  are  frequently  the  prime  movers  in  its  affairs.  At  Bury 
St.  Edmunds  sixty  clergymen  took  part.  Mr.  Parker,  the  English  authority,  defines  a  pag- 


115 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

eant,  as  a  festival  to  Almighty  God  in  commemoration  of  past  glory  and  in  gratitude 
for  present  prosperity.  He  insists  on  a  religious  service  during  the  presentation  week 
— just  as  the  election  sermon  used  to  be  given  in  New  England.  In  one  Massachusetts 
village  the  orthodox  clergyman,  who  had  played  a  part  in  a  pageant  the  previous  week, 
observed  in  his  Sunday  address  that  two  things  had  impressed  him  in  connection  with  the 
production — one  of  which  made  him  very  glad,  the  other,  very  sad.  First,  he  declared 
he  could  see  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  working  through  the  pageant  to  bring 
the  community  into  closer  relations  and  to  promote  a  finer  fellowship.  That  rejoiced 
him.  On  the  other  side,  the  feature  that  saddened  him  was  taking  the  Lord's  Holy 
Name  in  vain  so  commonly.  Drawing  from  all  strata  of  society  the  pageant  is  likely 
to  bring  into  play,  during  rehearsal,  some  unusual  and  unexpected  vocabularies  from 
those  unaccustomed  to  the  godly  usages  of  the  pastoral  flock.  Mr.  Parker  insists  that 
in  all  his  relations  with  thousands  of  players  he  never  was  sworn  at  but  once,  and 
that  was  by  a  very  old  man  who  had  no  teeth  so  it  did  not  really  hurt  or  count.  But  he 
does  not  say  how  many  times  he  himself  has  been  tempted  to  profanity,  nor  whether  he 
yielded  or  not.  The  arbitrary  commands  of  the  pageant  master  are  bound  to  test  the 
equanimity  of  many  players.  A  lady  who  conducted  a  very  large  southern  pageant  states 
that  only  one  person  deserted  ill-naturedly.    That  was  a  woman  whose  feelings  were  hurt 

116 


The  Pageant  as  a  Moral  Agent 

because  her  little  daughter  could  not  wear  butterfly  wings  and  dance  on  a  bed  of  roses. 
In  early  England  a  pageant  was  a  morality  play.  Before  the  days  of  printing, 
the  pageant  took  the  place  of  the  novel  with  a  purpose.  Like  Artemus  Ward's  circus 
it  should  be  a  "great  moral  show",  and  make  some  pretence  to  answer  the  question: 
What  are  we  here  for,  and  where  are  we  going.  The  moral  effect  of  a  pageant  is  distin- 
guished from  the  ordinary  theatrical  play  in  two  especial  points.  There  is  safety  in 
nimibers.  President  Wilson,  in  his  New  Freedom,  says  he  is  on  his  best  behavior  when 
he  is  with  a  crowd  of  people  who  know  him — his  own  neighbors  and  townspeople;  and 
that  when  he  is  alone  in  some  far-off,  remote  country,  the  temptation  becomes  strongest 
for  him  to  transgress  the  ten  commandments.  The  pageant  is  a  family  party — everybody 
knows  everybody  else.  There  is  rivalry  in  deportment.  Secondly,  antiseptic  sunlight  and 
air  Idll  moral  germs  as  they  do  disease  germs.  A  pageant  is  the  cleanest  form  of  the  drama. 
Among  the  butterflies  in  the  clover-fields  there  is  little  of  the  danger  which  lurks  among 
the  footlight  fairies.  At  an  outdoor  afternoon  sociable  who  could  think  of  poisoning  the 
mind  with  salacious  dialogue;  by  introducing  the  sex  morbidity  of  the  pantomine 
"Sumurun";  or  the  smut  and  offal,  which  characterize  plays  of  Brieux,  Strindberg, 
or  other  pathological  dramatists!  Under  the  Hygeian  influence  of  sunlit  fields  the  pag- 
eant cannot  be  raw  or  nasty.    Leave  the  underworld  problems  to  the  night  theatre. 

117 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

No  one  attends  a  pageant  to  see  a  stream  of  social  sewage  emptied  upon  the  arena. 
Yellow  journals  attend  to  that  quite  sufficiently.  There  has  been  no  demand  yet  for 
a  censor  or  moral  chaperone  of  pageantry.  But  there  have  been  instances  of  ques- 
tionable artistic  taste.  For  example:  In  a  Vermont  pageant  a  scene  was  introduced 
depicting  the  removal  of  a  cemetery  on  the  top  of  a  hill  to  make  way  for  a  new  courthouse. 
Wooden  coffins,  supposed  to  contain  the  bodies  of  ancestors  of  persons  sitting  in  the  grand- 
stand, were  borne  across  the  arena.  The  weary  porters  paused  in  view  of  the  audience 
and  set  down  their  burdens  to  wipe  their  brows  and  indulge  in  persiflage  about  their  occu- 
pation. A  strolling  actor  happens  upon  the  scene  and,  in  stage  slang,  suggested  by  the 
episode,  exclaims  "Alas!  Poor  Yorick!"  A  Vermont  farmer,  somewhat  hard  of  hearing, 
mistakes  the  allusion  and  replies  that  the  departed  ancestor  never  visited  York  State  in 
his  life.  Such  gruesome  pleasantry  borders  upon  irreverence.  On  another  occasion, 
a  scene  was  enacted  at  which  a  wounded  soldier  in  the  Civil  War  was  brought  home 
on  a  litter  and  was  borne  off  into  a  cemetery  which  happened  to  adjoin  immediately 
the  pageant  field.  How  much  finer  was  the  treatment  of  the  massacre  at  Deerfield!  To 
avoid  an  offensive  scene  the  author  arranged  that  the  "Flower  of  Essex"  should  march 
away  into  the  woods  and  that  the  "massacre"  should  be  announced  by  a  fusillade  of 
shots  behind  the  trees  making  an  impressive  scene  to  the  thoughtful  audience. 

118 


THE  COURT  OF  POLVDF.CTES,  BALTIMORE.    THE  CANOPY  GIVES  THE  DESIRED  ORIENTAL  FEELING  VERY  SIMPLY. 


PAGEANT  OF  HA'lMAKIM;.  ILIOT,  MAINE.     IHK  I'AGhAM    MAV  bKKVK  A  Vl-.k'k    I'RAC  IRAL  I'Lkl'OSK  BY  THK   KXERCISE 

OF  A  LITTLE  TACT  AND  INGENUITY 


FUNERAL    HONORS     FOR     GENERAL     WASHINGTON.     BEIORK     RK\  OLU  TIONAR  Y      TROOPS     AT     PAGEANT    OF    OXFORD. 

MASSACHUSKTJS.   BY  MISS  KMII.'i    A    SPRANG. 


The  Pageant  as  a  Moral  Agent 

In  America  nearly  everyone  goes  to  the  play  but  how  seldom  anyone  draws  a 
will  in  favor  of  the  playhouse.  Our  millionaires  give  money  to  establish  schools,  univer- 
sities, libraries,  museums,  hospitals,  churches,  conservatories  of  music.  The  theatre  is 
an  instrumentality  for  formulating  character,  shaping  conduct  and  educating  the  pub- 
lic as  much  as  the  church  or  school.  Why  do  philanthropic  plutocrats  exclude  it  from 
the  field  of  endowment?  There  is  a  lingering  suspicion  that  play-acting  is  not  sanctioned 
in  the  light  of  moral  and  religious  teachings.  The  idea  has  not  quite  reached  the  minds 
of  many  that  there  are  decent  people  in  the  Green  Room.  Bills  cannot  be  paid  in  stage 
money.  People  go  to  see  a  play  but  keep  a  safe  distance  across  the  footlights  from  the 
actors.  Some  day  a  multi-millionaire  may  discover  in  the  pageant  a  worthy  vehicle  for 
improving  the  race,  and  establish  a  school  for  promoting  this  branch  of  art. 

Is  the  function  of  a  dramatic  festival  to  please  or  to  inculcate  an  idea,  to  advance 
a  cause  or  "to  hold  the  mirror  up  to  Nature  and  show  the  age  and  body  of  the  Time,  his 
form  and  pressure"?  Measured  by  our  twentieth  century  standards  the  Roman  Circus  and 
the  secular  games  were  characterized  by  brutality  and  licentiousness.  The  drama  lost  pres- 
tige but  has  managed  to  survive  and  the  type  of  people  who  deplored  its  existence  now 
begin  to  see  in  it  a  potential  influence  for  good.  The  pageant,  to  reveal  the  fineness  of 
the  American  people,  must  of  course  avoid  the  glaring  sensuousness  and  prodigality  of 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

those  festivals  which  were  its  prototype  among  the  Ancients,  and  eling  to  its  obvious 
mission  of  giving  purpose  to  life  by  visualizing  the  spirit  of  America. 

Different  ages  and  nations  have  excelled  in  different  traits  and  gifts;  the  Hebrews 
in  their  genius  for  religion,  the  Greeks  in  art,  French  in  science,  Germans  in  philosophy, 
Italians  in  poetry.   America  seems  to  stand  for  the  Main  Chance.    Those  who  consider 
"bluff"  her  most  conspicuous  characteristic  may  question  whether  a  pageant  is  the  oys- 
ter or  the  shell.    Are  we  living  in  an  "age  of  scum  spooned  off  the  richer  past?  "    Dr.  Philip 
Axton  says  Americans  feel  it  is  big  to  have  money  enough  to  buy  pictures,  but  small  to 
have  genius  to  paint  them.    The  Greek  in  his  glory  was  visual-minded  with  acute  sensi- 
bility to  the  power  of  form,  color,  movement.    This  day  of  glory  has  not  arrived  with 
the  American,  who  finds  more  pleasure  in  earning  a  dollar  than  spending  it.    The  bus- 
iest nation  in  the  world  is  dead  if  not  doing  something  for  the  ampler  life  of  all  the  people. 
So  long  as  acquisitiveness  is  the  main  characteristic,  a  race  can  have  no  culmination  of  ar- 
tistic perfection.    The  pageant  is  a  reaction  against  hustling,  individual  money-grabbing 
and  should  be  conducted  for  public  weal  under  the  auspices  of  village  improvement  so- 
cieties.   In  pageantry  people  work  for  the  love  of  it.    Masterpieces  in  the  arts  come  when 
there  is  no  immediate  dependence  of  the  creative  worker  upon  payment  for  his  work. 

The  history  of  the  world  shows  that  the  arts  flourish  best  when  a  nation  is  on  the 

122 


The  Pageant  as  a  Moral  Agent 

verge  of  decay.  The  other  day  an  over-heated  Baptist  minister  preached  about  the  "rotten 
borough  of  the  arts".  Is  the  wide  interest  in  pageantry  an  indication  that  New  England, 
for  example,  is  going  to  seed!  Not  so  much  interested  in  what  her  grandsons  can  do  as 
what  her  grandfathers  did !  America  with  a  future  is  better  than  Babylon  with  a  past.  But 
America  can  only  follow  in  the  steps  of  other  nations,  Ferrero,  in  his  History  of  Rome, 
emphasizes  the  fact  that  the  decay  of  the  Empire  set  in,  the  day  the  patricians  abandoned 
the  happiness  of  home  for  the  sensational  pleasures  of  the  Circus  Maximus.  The  pageant 
isnotaproductof  heroic.  Spartan,  self-sacrificing  pioneers;  it  blooms  in  luxurious  prosper- 
ity. The  community  pageant,  more  than  any  other  art,  is  in  the  hands  of  descendants  of 
old,  colonial  American  stock.  The  tendency  of  civilization  is  to  promote  the  parasite.  Es- 
theticism  emasculates  the  race.  To  the  inquiring  student  of  the  times  the  question  arises: 
Are  the  forces  behind  American  pageantry  a  symptom  of  the  virility,  permanence,  con- 
tinuity of  the  nation,  or  the  petering-out  of  sensation-seeking  Epigoni! 

The  gray  Puritans  took  their  pleasures  "sadly",  rejecting  the  theatre  as  one  of  the 
unregenerate  excrescences  of  civilization  in  the  belief  that  play-acting  and  dancing 
were  the  "Devil's  kindling  wood".  Although  scripture  contains  many  pageant  scenes, 
such  as  Adam  driven  from  the  Garden,  Belshazzar's  feast,  or  Christ  feeding  the  multitude 
with  loaves  and  fishes,  the  old  Puritans  regarded  ritual,  ceremony,  pomp  and  color  as 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

contrary  to  the  Bible  program  for  this  life.  They  banished  the  Maypole  and  Yule  log,  and 
put  a  cold  blighting  finger  upon  many  innocent  amusements.  To  understand  the 
exact  reason  why  they  shunned  and  rebuked  the  drama,  examine  the  plays  of  the  Stuart 
reign  with  their  shocking  stories,  blasphemy  and  lewdness  ad  nauseam — then  you  will 
be  prouder  of  your  Piaritan  ancestry.  Hereditary  skepticism  as  regards  the  stage  is 
found  to  this  day  in  many  families  quite  otherwise  undistinguished  for  obtrusive  piety. 
However,  staid  New  England  villages  seem  to  be  undergoing  a  change  of  heart,  and  are 
bursting  through  their  traditional  reserve  with  exuberant  enthusiasm  to  celebrate  their 
town's  history  in  a  gala  pageant.  "Good  times  have  come  to  stay" — they  exclaim,  "let's 
have  the  right  kind  of  a  good  time". 

The  pageant  is  not  steeped  in  the  comic  spirit;  its  essence  is  designed  for  the  Puri- 
tan more  than  for  the  Bacchanalian  or  Bohemian;  it  does  not  cater  to  the  Great 
Broad  Grin.  The  slap-stick  is  carefully  omitted.  A  pageant  should  be  charac- 
terized by  an  attentive  hush  and  catch  at  the  throat,  as  at  a  Masonic  instal- 
lation or  commimion  service.  It  is  not  the  place  for  one  gifted  with  the  "hair-trigger 
laugh"  which  transports  itself,  on  the  most  imperceptible  provocation,  into  a  giddy  whirl- 
wind, as  the  sensitive  Aeolian  harp  is  set  a-sighing  by  the  lightest  zephyr.  But  the  per- 
son who  laughs  too  much  is  no  less  out  of  place  than  the  one  who  does  not  laugh  at  all. 

124 


o 
o 


A  si'iiuri:n  l'll^KKlc■  n.wcF.  hv  bovs  in  (;ri;i:k  i'ac;i:a\t  at  mim.hi  rv.  Massachusetts. 


The  Pageant  as  a  Moral  Agent 

The  point  is  to  laugh  when  the  laugh  comes  in — for  no  pageant  can  be  successful  without 
a  modicum  of  salt  wit  to  save  it— some  spice  for  the  gallery  gods;  but  in  small  doses, 
to  act  as  a  foil.  None  of  the  rip-roaring  "Son-of-the-wine-jar"  goatishness  and  simian 
antics  of  the  Winter  Garden,  or  Follies  Bergeres.  Life  is  a  comedy  to  those  who  think, 
said  Walpole,  a  tragedy  to  those  who  feel.  Balzac  wrote  the  human  comedy,  but  greater 
masters — Milton  and  Dante — chose  as  their  themes  the  Divine  Tragedy. 

Sufficient  unintentional  burlesque  will  arise  either  from  mishaps  of  actors,  or  animals 
or  inebriate  spectators.  At  Deerfield,  as  the  band  struck  up  "Home,  Sweet  Home" 
about  ten  o'clock  at  a  night  performance,  a  horse  which  approved  those  sentiments  took 
French  leave  of  his  master,  dashed  across  the  arena,  and  down  the  street  into  his  stable. 
On  another  occasion  a  lady  was  so  absorbed  in  the  action  of  the  play  that  when  she  saw 
Indians  coming  to  capture  a  band  of  women  she  rose  absent-mindedly  and  cried  out:  "Why 
don't  you  scream  and  run?"  A  stray  lamb  added  to  the  gaiety  of  a  performance  by  gam- 
bolling on  to  the  arena  and  plaintively  calling  for  its  dam  while  a  solo  dancer  was  cour- 
ageously endeavoring  to  hold  the  center  of  the  stage.  At  a  New  York  pageant  an  "Indian 
chief"  appeared  in  mutton-chop  whiskers  which  were  too  sacred  to  be  sacrificed  to  the 
higher  harmonies  of  the  day.  The  spirit  of  the  ridiculous  always  lurks  aroimd  the 
comer  from  the  sublime,  ready  to  leap  forth  and  nullify  the  serious  lesson  if  not  kept 

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within  bounds.  A  few  cases  in  point  of  legitimate  low  comedy  may  be  cited.  Out  West,  a  scene 
was  reproduced  where  an  angry  British  cavalrjmian,  swinging  his  sword,  lopped  off 
a  horse's  ear.  In  the  pageant  the  horse  appears  with  two  paper  ears,  one  of  which  is  dex- 
terously amputated  with  a  wooden  sword.  At  a  southern  pageant,  a  gigantic  gamecock 
appeared  crowing  and  scratching  for  grubs  in  gallinaceous  glee.  In  a  Dutch  pageant  in 
New  York,  the  miller's  wife  during  the  conflagration  of  a  mill,  repeatedly  fainted  into 
the  arms  of  every  handsome  volunteer  fireman.  At  Hartford,  Vermont,  during  a  Rev- 
olutionary scene  a  company  of  soldiers  was  called,  and  only  enough  reported  to  leave  one  pri- 
vate after  the  officers  had  been  appointed.  The  company  bravely  mustered  on  the 
town  common  and  went  through  their  manoeuvers  until  the  single  private  was  so  worn 
out  with  following  the  commands  of  his  several  superiors  that  he  fell  down  in  sheer 
exhaustion.  At  Darien  a  wily  Indian  chief  sold  the  same  piece  of  land  to  several  white 
settlers  to  prove  that  the  redman  was  up  to  snuff  in  real  estate  trades.  At  the  Taunton 
pageant,  a  boy  in  the  guise  of  a  huge  prehistoric  frog  hopped  about  the  arena  as  Father 
Time  entered,  and  presently  leaped  into  the  lake  and  swam  away  to  symbolize  the  passing 
of  the  antediluvian  era.  A  humorous  turn  is  to  have  some  one  step  out  of  the  audience  to 
mix  with  the  players  and  correct  some  clumsy  affair  of  the  Past  in  the  light  of  modem 
knowledge. 

128 


The  Pageant  as  a  Moral  Agent 

» 

The  concluding  question  is:  Does  the  pageant  justify  itself?  Is  it  worth  while? 
Does  it  go  in  one  eye  and  out  of  the  other?  What  is  the  resultant  afterglow?  What  is  the 
reaction  upon  the  participant,  upon  the  spectator,  upon  the  community  at  large? 

The  player  has  had  an  experience,  agreeable,  educative,  cultural.  He  has  trained 
his  powers  of  artistic  production.  He  has  made  new  acquaintances.  By  stepping  behind 
the  scenes  from  the  feverish  present  into  the  cold  past  he  can  more  intelligently  under- 
stand the  trend  of  the  times,  better  address  himself  to  the  morrow.  In  a  pageant  a 
person  visits  and  shakes  hands  with  his  ancestors.  Referring  to  the  St.  Louis  pageant. 
Miss  Rumbold,  the  promoter,  writes :  There  is  not  a  person  who  took  part  in  the  pageant 
who  has  not  reared  in  his  heart  a  memorial  more  enduring  than  any  monument  of  stone. 

The  spectator  has  been  refreshed  by  a  form  of  entertainment,  inspiring,  satis- 
fying, delightful.  His  artistic  impulses  have  been  spurred,  his  mental  horizon  enlarged. 
New  avenues  of  reflection  are  opened  up  to  him.  By  focusing  his  attention  upon  the  myste- 
rious source  of  existence  he  sees  the  portals  open  to  a  larger  and  more  beautiful  life.  No 
one  ever  came  away  from  a  good  pageant  without  thinking  better  of  his  kind. 

The  community  at  large  has  been  limbered  up  and  given  an  opportunity  for  self- 
expression  without  which  the  spirit  dies.  It  makes  the  neighborhood,  for  a  day  at  least, 
spruce  up  and  put  on  its  best  behavior  like  a  soldier  on  dress  parade;  opens  arms  of  hos- 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

pitality;  provides  innocuous  tea-table  gossip.  It  is  a  constructive,  progressive  factor 
which  kindles  a  new  fire  on  the  community  hearth  and  gives  a  broad  and  tolerant  out- 
look by  which  the  locality  adjusts  itself  to  the  Great  Scheme  of  the  Universe.  Profes- 
sor Taintor  of  Wisconsin,  writes:  "I  think  I  may  say  that  the  citizens  of  Ripon  never 
turned  out  the  lights  and  went  to  bed  with  a  more  satisfying  glow  of  pleasure  at  having 
done  something  worth  while  than  the  night  after  our  local  pageant.  For  weeks  after- 
ward, we  were  all  like  children  saying  to  each  other  as  we  met,  'Didn't  we  do  it  well?'  " 
Every  municipality  can  give  one  good  pageant,  although  sometimes  the  soil  is  well- 
nigh  exhausted  if  that  one  is  well  done.  Each  town  has  a  distinctive  community  conscious- 
ness that  differentiates  it  from  its  neighbor.  Just  as  each  morning's  mail  looks  very  much 
alike  externally  but,  after  the  contents  have  been  read,  tells  a  different  story;  so  each  pag- 
eant has  an  outward  similarity  but  always  an  inner  individual  soul.  There  can  be  no 
two  alike;  if  they  are,  one  of  them  is  a  mere  "paper  copy".  Pageants  mark  progress. 
They  should  also  direct  progress — project  their  influence  through  future  generations, 
saying  with  Zarathustra:  I  am  of  Today  and  of  the  Past  but  something  is  within  me 
that  is  of  Tomorrow  and  the  Far  Future. 


130 


'LANDING  OF  COLUMBUS"     OBSERVE  THAT  THE  NATIVE  CHIEF  GREETING  COLUMBUS  IS  COSTUMED  AS  A  NORTHERN 

■      INSTEAD  OF  A  SOUTHERN  INDIAN. 


COLlMliUS  ATCOlRr  OF  ISABKI.I.A.    GOOD  ^AMI'l.tOT  SC1|I"11,  I'M.l'  \M.  Al    |II11\S(I\,  \  l-.R\H)N  I,     m    MI^.S  AI.KI'.  1'    I- A  \ 


PART  IL 

Technique  of  Pageantry. 

If  you  will  see  a  pageant  truly  played, 
Go  hence  a  little,  and  I  shall  conduct  you, 
If  you  will  mark  it 


Js  Toil  Like  It. 


ECHNIQUE  has  been  defined  as  the  difficult  way  of  doing  an  easy 
thing.  There  never  was  an  easy  way  for  producing  a  pageant. 
Getting  up  a  pageant  was  once  aptly  described  by  a  fine  old  lady, 
who  had  been  through  the  mill,  as  a  "Herculaneum  task."  It  is 
overwhelming,  volcanic.  Many  a  director  has  felt  the  need  of  a 
six  months'  rest  after  the  production.  One  master  writes:  I  went  to  bed  the  night  after 
the  pageant  having  dropped  from  my  shoulders  a  burden  as  large,  if  not  as  heavy,  as 
that  carried  by  Christian  in  the  old-time  picture  illustrating  Bunyan's  famous  allegory. 
A  woman  director,  during  the  throes  of  the  presentation,  vowed  she  would  go  on  a 
spree  when  the  affair  was  over.  "And  take  me  with  you",  echoed  the  jaded  stage- 
director.  A  few  women,  however,  appear  to  have  a  gift  for  pageantry,  commanding  that 
ability  to  do    things  handily  that  the  average  person  can  accomplish  only  by  "main 


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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

strength  and  cussedness".  The  secret  of  success  is  to  know  what  to  do.  First  make 
everybody  feel  at  home.  See  that  all  are  heading  the  same  way,  not  each  one  in  a  dif- 
ferent direction.  Much  executive  ability,  a  brain  well-indexed  and  infinite  tact  are  called 
for  to  get  along  with  the  invariable  jealousies,  whims  and  crochets  of  over-emotionalized 
natures — the  lethargies  and  tardy  responses  of  under-emotionalized  natures — the  explos- 
ive temperaments,  the  delinquents,  Mrs.  Grundys,  busybodies,  and  a  hundred  volunteer 
counselors  offering  contradictory  advice.  The  pageant-master  must  marshal  a  small 
army  made  up  largely  of  raw  recruits;  the  leader  must  orchestrate  the  whole  show  into 
one  grand  harmony.  Not  the  least  of  the  anxieties  of  mind  to  the  director  are  the  fifty- 
seven  varieties  of  American  weather  which  appear  on  short  notice.  When  we  come  to 
consider  the  rewards  of  the  master  who  has  survived  the  hazards  and  distractions  of  a 
first-class  pageant  Dr.  Oberholtzer,  of  Philadelphia,  has  adequately  expressed  his  feelings : 
"If  there  are  tears  in  the  eyes  of  the  general  standing  over  and  above  this  scene  of  his  own 
creation,  the  surrender  will  be  only  human  and  he  may  be  allowed  this  moment  of  tri- 
umph after  weeks  and  months  of  difficulties  and  exasperations  of  which  no  other  man  can 
know." 

Just  as  the  Toy  Theatre  presents  drama  in  miniature  so  the  pagea  nt  goes  to 
the  other  extreme  and  presents  drama  in  la  grande  mayiiere.  The  number  of  untrained  ae- 

134 


Technique  of  Pageantry 

tors  necessarily  calls  for  a  simple  technique.  Although  an  amateur  effort,  there  will  be 
more  finish  and  snap  if  a  professional  coach  gives  advice  about  facial  expressions,  gesticula- 
tions, accent,  and  tableaux  on  the  field.  These  fine  touches  impart  the  thrills  which  delight 
and  lift  a  play  out  of  the  ordinary.  Proportion,  harmony,  character,  rhythm,  verve  and 
brilliance  are  the  goals  to  strive  for. 

A  ready-made  pageant,  such  as  Joan  of  Arc,  or  the  Fall  of  Rome,  may  go  the 
rounds  like  a  circus,  but  has  no  roots  in  the  local  soil.  If  you  cut  it,  it  will  not  bleed 
because  it  does  not  pulse  with  the  life  of  the  people.  If  you  should  go  on  one  day  to  a 
good  commimity  pageant  and  on  the  next  to  Buffalo  Bill's  Wild  West  show  (also  known  as  a 
pageant),  the  Wild  West  would  produce  more  electric  thrills  by  the  daring  skill  of  the 
performers  but  would  not  elicit  a  tug  at  the  heart,  nor  put  you  in  a  reflective  mood 
of  thought  as  would  the  home-made  pageant.  The  former  seems  an  exotic  and  parasitic 
production;  the  latter  organic  and  culminative.    One  exhibitional;  the  other,  expressional. 

No  one  gives  a  pageant  for  the  sake  of  displaying  skill  in  technique.  A  pageant 
receipt  cannot  be  written  for  a  sociological  druggist  to  fill.  Formula  will  not  produce  a 
work  of  art — that  is  a  matter  of  individual  consciousness  and  creative  impulse.  The  pag- 
eant, like  Topsy,  just  grows.  A  work  of  art  is  the  result  of  an  impression  that  exists  in 
the  mind's  eye  before  the  artist  can  express  it  and  is  based  on  imaginative  emotion  and 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

feelings,  not  on  exact  science  and  reason.  Pageantry  is  not  standardized  or  convention- 
alized, nor  is  the  nomenclature  completed.  Much  latitude  is  allowed  each  master  to  create 
something  new.  The  purpose  of  this  guide  book  is  to  guard  against  erroneous  methods 
and  false  ideals  (professionalism,  commercialism,  sensationalism,)  by  offering  a  few 
suggestions  and  by  showing  what  has  already  been  done  in  various  places.  It  is 
merely  an  elementary  study  in  pageant  anatomy  and  makes  no  pretense  as  a  panacea 
to  cure  all  ills  to  which  the  pageant  festival  is  heir.  A  valuable  Guide  and  Index  to 
Plays,  Festivals  and  Masques  for  use  in  Schools,  Clubs  and  Neighborhood  Centres  was 
Compiled  by  The  Arts  and  Festivals  Committee  of  the  Association  of  Neighborhood 
Workers,  New  York  (1913).  Serviceable  bulletins  have  been  issued  by  the  American 
Pageant  Association. 


136 


EXIT  OF  A  MEXICAN  EPISODE  IN  SOUTHERN  CAMFORNIA  PAGEANT. 


"INDIANS"  IN  MUTTON  CHOP  VVHISK.ERS  ARE  APT  TO  START  A  SMILE  IN  THE  AUDIENCE. 


I  BAII  l.K  OK  SHU'S  AT  MACllIAS    MAINE.  PAGKANT. 
OVKR  THK  Sim-:  OK   BOAT 


DURING  THE  "KNGAGEMKNl"  A  POWDER- BLRNEO  SAII-OK  DKiJl'I'i  1) 
AND  SWAM  ASHORE  TO   REACH    A    DOCTOR. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Subject. 

My  Country,  'tis  of  thee,  Sweet  land  of  liberty, 
Of  thee  I  sing. 

S.  F.  Smith. 

VERYTHING  has  a  beginning.  The  roads  to  success  or  failure 
start  at  the  same  point.  Hence  the  importance  of  starting  on 
the  right  road.  The  idea  of  giving  a  pageant  originates  in  the  mind 
of  someone  who  is  susceptible  to  the  infectious  enthusiasm  of  this 
fascinating  art.  The  protagonist,  most  likely  an  artist,  a  social 
worker  or  local  blue-stocking,  communicates  the  idea  toothers.  "Let's  have  a  pageant", 
is  taken  up  enthusiastically  by  a  circle  of  friends,  restless  and  eager  to  do  something  new. 
Enthusiasm  must  be  tempered  by  reflection  and  deliberation.  Sometimes  heat  is  gener- 
ated more  easily  than  light.  The  question  at  once  arises:  What  shall  the  pageant  be? 
The  first  stake  to  drive  is  the  selection  of  a  subject.  There  are  unlimited  possibilities  of 
pageantizing  historical  scenes  or  abstract  ideals;  a  thousand  pressing  interests  seek  utter- 
ance and  recognition.  The  pageant  may  be  historic,  civic,  social,  military,  ideal, 
romantic,  or  like  the  play  in  Hamlet,  "tragical-historical-comical-pastoral,"  or  what 


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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

might  be  called  a  genre  pageant,  such  as  the  Dutch  pageant  at  Croton,  New  York. 
It  may  deal  with  vital  modem  forces,  the  Hope  of  the  Future,  institutions  of  our  nation, 
the  press,  law,  railroads,  education,  athletics,  strikes,  suffrage,  scientific  achievements,  the 
vast  industries — steel,  wheat,  fisheries,  agriculture.  Many  phases  of  our  complex  civiliza- 
tion might  appropriately  find  symbolic  expression  and  become  educative  to  the  whole 
people.  There  have  been  given  in  America — a  Pageant  of  the  Seasons,  Pageant  of 
Education,  Pageant  of  Rural  Progress,  a  Baby  Pageant,  Pageant  of  Patriotism,  Pageant 
of  Music,  Pageant  of  the  Nativity,  Pageant  of  Industrialism,  Pageant  of  the  Renaissance, 
Pageant  of  the  Perfect  City,  Pageant  of  the  Decline  of  Rome,  Pageant  of  Illinois,  Pageant 
of  the  Hours,  Pageant  of  the  Sea,  Pageant  of  the  Timberlands,  Pageant  of  Peace,  and, 
best  of  all — a  Pageant  of  Home-making,  for  that  is  what  pageantry  is — love  of 
the  race,  a  reverence  for  ancestral  strivings.  That  is  what  takes  hold  of  a  person — 
the  appeal  from  the  great,  pulsing,  eternal  heart  of  the  world,  with  whose  destiny  every 
mother's  son  or  daughter  is  linked  through  ties  of  home. 

In  America,  there  have  been  many  Greek  pageants,  for  example,  at  Millbury, 
Massachusetts;  Nashville,  Tennesee;  Baltimore,  Maryland  and  Berkeley,  California. 
These  are  especially  popular  in  female  colleges  and  are  very  beautiful  in  their  classic  cos- 
tumes, their  simplicity  and  lightness.    These  are  rhythmic  and  lyric,  while  the  American 

140 


The  Subject 

historical  pageant  is  epic— a  dignified  theme,  an  organic  unity,  an  orderiy  progress  of  ac- 
tion. Portraying  the  life  of  a  community  amounts  to  writing  a  local  Iliad.  The  one 
who  writes  also  frequently  stages  the  pageant.  The  dramaturge  should  address  himself 
to  the  work  with  American  optimism;  read  the  histories  and  talk  with  the  patriarchal 
men  and  women  of  the  town;  sift  evidence,  marshal  facts  from  the  wealth  of  local  tra- 
dition and  search  the  comers  of  forgotten  manuscripts,  always  with  a  keen  eye  for  the 
picturesque  and  dramatic  to  convey  the  lesson  pleasingly  and  give  local  color.  He  will 
be  surprised  as  he  skims  the  cream  of  history,  to  find  how  people  have  been  doing  just 
the  things  that  are  needed  to  make  a  successful  pageant.  The  eye  of  the  artist,  the  mind 
of  the  poet,  the  ear  of  the  musician,  must  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  subject.  Homo 
sum;  humani  nihil  a  me  alienum  puto!  This  should  be  borne  in  mind  by  the  writer. 
For  the  pageant  is  a  Baedeker  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  the  Human  Family.  Try  for 
the  touch  that  makes  the  whole  worid  kin.  Each  individual  episode  should  have  a  unity 
of  its  own  and  at  the  same  time  hold  its  logical  place  in  the  unified  sequence  of  the 
whole  production.  A  perfect  pageant  should  be  a  spiritual  exhalation  of  community  life. 
Bear  in  mind  that  pageantry  is  veneration  for  past  deeds,  devotion  to  present  needs 
and  dedication  to  future  ideals— Realism,  Symbolism,  Idealism.  The  emotions  must 
be  stured  at  the  same  time  that  the  intellect  is  informed;  consequently  there  must  be 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

a  play  of  imagination.  The  world  is  enlarged  through  constructive  imagination.  But 
the  writer  must  not  have  too  tropical  imagination — he  must  take  precaution  to  disarm 
criticism  of  geneological  sharks,  positive-minded  Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  exacting 
town  antiquarians  who"  are  sticklers  for  the  letter  of  the  law. 

It  is  important  to  keep  a  good  perspective.  Hold  it  in  one  key.  This  was  exem- 
plified splendidly  at  Deerfield,  Massachusetts,  where  the  production  was  kept  on  one 
harmonious  color  plane  centering  around  the  final  struggle  between  the  red  and  white 
races.  While  the  introduction  of  the  Grand  Army  is  a  popular  scene,  sometimes  it 
hurts  the  artistic  imity  by  coming  too  near  the  present.  Keep  away  from  the  unhappy 
insignia  of  our  impatient  era  of  bargain  sales,  excursions  trains,  taxicabs,  Tungsten 
lights,  eugenic  babies,  wrist  watches,  cash  registers,  and  esculators. 

By  the  law  of  human  nature  every  community  produces  a  local  chronicler  with 
an  itch  for  writing.  Whether  one  trained  mind  should  write  a  book  or  several  working 
together  is  an  open  question.  Possibly  it  remained  for  North  Dakota  to  compose  an 
ideal  pageant  book  in  which  eighteen  students  at  University  co-operated. 


142 


rUh  JAI'ANKSK   IS    THK   MUST   DAIMV   AM)   COI.ORI- L  I.  OI-     I  11  K    lOl.k   l)A\  t  KS      PAUKAN  f  AT  CINCM  NN  ATI,  OHIO. 


W  \S11].NG-10.N    CROSSING    THK    DKI.A  W  A  RK.       A    fl.KVKR    INII   k'KI    I    Mh'X    mi      \    I'MRKHU     INllDI.M 
BY  BOYS  IN  PAGKANTOX  A  I'l.AV  <.;R01NI)  AT  M;\\  ARk.  MAS  JKRSliY. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Site. 

The  place 
Where  shining  souls  have  passed  imbibes  a  grace 
Beyond  mere  earth ;  some  sweetness  of  their  fames 
Leaves  in  the  soil  its  inextinguished  trace, 
Pimgent,  pathetic,  sad  with  nobler  aims, 
That  penetrates  our  lives  and  heightens  them,  or  shames. 


Lowell 


IRST  impressions  go  a  very  long  way  with  an  audience  in  the  pres- 
entation of  a  pageant.  The  frame  comes  in  for  criticism  before  the 
picture.  There  are  sermons  in  stones,  tongues  in  trees,  before 
the  human  element  makes  an  appearance.  If  your  audience  is 
pleased  with  the  beauty  of  the  setting  it  is  prejudiced  in  advance 
in  your  favor.  Although  the  gate  receipts  will  depend  largely  upon  the  ease  with  which 
the  public  can  reach  the  chosen  spot,  accessibility  should  be  secondary  to  artistic  attract- 
iveness. At  Peterborough,  the  opening  for  the  arena  was  made  in  the  deep  woods  half  a 
mile  from  any  habitation.  At  Elyria,  New  York,  a  festival  was  given  six  miles  from 
the  nearest  raih-oad  or  trolley  line.    At  Martha's  Vineyard  the  audience  passed  through 


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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

an  immense  poultry  farm  on  the  way  to  a  lake  among  the  mid-island  scrub  oaks.  As  the 
pageant  arena  is  measured  by  acres  not  by  feet,  the  ideal  site  may  not  be  easy  to  find 
close  at  hand.  The  importance  of  water  in  the  mise  en  scene  cannot  be  over-emphazised. 
Poetry  and  romance  are  associated  with  water.  Venus  was  born  of  the  waves.  Nothing 
can  supply  the  charm  of  a  placid  lake  at  the  foot  of  the  arena,  so  that  boats  may  approach 
with  passengers  singing  a  bouyant  refrain  as  they  land.  Damming  a  brook  for  an  ar- 
tificial pond  is  a  common  device.  In  pageants  at  Ware,  Massachusetts,  St.  Louis,  and 
University,  North  Dakota  the  players  performed  on  an  island  leaving  a  ribbon  of  water 
between  the  arena  and  the  audience.  On  Lake  Champlain  an  Indian  pageant  was  given 
on  a  portable  island  improvised  by  fastening  together  a  number  of  canal  boats  and  build- 
ing wooden  decks  with  sloping  edges,  and  then  covering  the  whole  with  pine  boughs, 
trees,  stumps,  wigwams,  and  other  paraphernalia.  Like  the  flying  island  of  Laputa  in  Gul- 
liver's Travels  this  island-theatre  moved  during  the  night  from  one  point  to  another.  At 
St.  Johnsbury,  the  pageant  was  given  on  the  top  of  the  foothill  commanding  a  mag- 
nificent view  of  distant  mountain  ranges.  At  Oxford,  Massachusetts,  the  Fair  Grounds 
were  used;  at  St.  Augustine,  the  Military  Parade;  at  Lancaster,  Massachusetts,  the 
Town  Common.  A  carpet  of  txxrl  is  best  though  sometimes  boards  are  used  as  at 
Arlington,  Massachusetts.    Delightful  pageants  have  been  given  in  classic  college  cam- 

146 


The  Site 

puses,  such  as  those  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  or  Erasmus  Hall,  Brooklyn.  Some 
private  estates  have  been  opened  for  this  purpose.  In  England,  they  are  often  given  in 
the  environs  of  a  noted  abbey  or  cathedral  half  in  ruins.  An  ideal  setting  would  be  a 
natural  amphitheatre  half  surrounding  a  level  area  several  hundred  feet  square  bordering 
upon  an  inland  lake  and  having  sufficient  over-arching  trees  to  provide  adequate  shade 
for  the  audience. 

As  a  work  of  art  has  its  fullest  value  in  the  setting  for  which  it  was  conceived  by 
the  artist,  so  a  pageant  when  performed  on  some  historic  site  realizes  its  fullest  possibilities 
by  immediate  historic  associations.  The  pageant  as  a  religious  ritual  could  not  be  more 
appropriately  given  than  in  a  cathedral  of  the  forest,  as  at  Redwood,  California.  The  size 
of  the  cast  is  determined  by  the  magnitude  of  the  arena.  There  must  be  definite  proportions 
— not  too  crowded  nor  too  scant.  When  a  throng  is  to  be  represented  it  is  better  to  have 
them  loose  and  active  than  compact  and  inert.  A  few  persons  actively  engaged  in  by-play 
will  give  an  impression  of  a  much  larger  number  than  really  exists.  Ten  persons  properly 
spaced  constitute  a  crowd  as  well  as  fifty  packed  together.  Long  vistas  should  be  utilized 
for  approaches  as  much  as  possible  and  exits  should  be  made  as  short  as  possible.  (Man  is 
a  long  while  getting  established  in  this  world  but  usually  leaves  in  a  hurry.)  At  Quebec 
one  entrance  was  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away.     An  approaching  group  would  disappear  be- 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

hind  a  hill  and  then  reappear  for  a  moment,  whetting  curiosity.      A  well-planned  layout 
of  the  pageant  grounds  should  provide  at  least  half  a  dozen  exits  and  entrances. 

Remember  that  little  artificial  scenery  can  be  safely  used  in  the  open  air.  Some 
landscape  gardening  of  the  Italian  order  may  be  allowed.  Dame  Nature  makes  the  best 
stage  carpenter,  and  such  piecing  out  as  may  be  reqiiired  should  consist  of  junipers,  or 
hemlocks,  cut  down  near  the  root  and  set  in  the  ground  a  day  or  two  before  the  pro- 
duction. Clusters  of  trees  have  been  planted  a  year  ahead  so  that  they  might  appear  as 
if  native  to  the  location.  Ars  est  artem  celare.  To  cut  off  back  ground  and  make  an  en- 
closure, a  screen  of  dark  blue  bunting  ten  feet  high,  mounted  on  poles  may  be  quickly  set 
up  by  experienced  stage  hands.  A  design  stencilled  upon  the  bunting  embellishes  its 
appearance.  At  the  Quebec  pageant  a  tremendous  carpet  was  brought  in  by  a  hundred 
sailors  running  at  full  speed  so  that  it  floated  in  the  air  like  the  carpet  of  Aladdin's  dream. 
At  Warren,  Rhode  Island,  a  field  of  com  bordering  the  arena  was  very  appropriately  and 
effectively  used  as  an  ambuscade  for  Indians.  At  Gloucester,  Massachusetts,  a  fire  cur- 
tain was  featured  at  an  evening  pageant.  For  seating  the  spectators  a  temporary 
auditorium  of  spruce  bleachers  may  be  erected  and  the  lumber  resold  at  half-price. 
Benches  are  far  more  comfortable  with  backs  than  without.  To  sit  Gypsy-fashion  on  the 
ground  is  most  ideal.    But  custom  decrees  that  the  social  sheep  and  goats  must  be  separated. 

148 


A    GOOD    ILLUSTRATION    OF    A    DANCING    INTERLUDE    BEING    REHEARSED   ON    PAGEANT  GROUNDS 
AT  CAPE  COD  THE   DAY   BEFORE  THE   FIRST  PRODUCTION. 


-  / 


-  X 

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J  z 


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en  b) 


B^ 

o 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Committees. 

I'll  play  my  part  in  fortune's  pageant.       Shakespeare. 

RGANIZING  a  pageant  is  almost  equal  to  planning  a  battle  or  a 
political  campaign.  The  supreme  head  is  called  the  pageant 
master,  or  mistress,  and  is  commander-in-chief  and  court  of  last 
appeal.  The  success  of  the  affair,  however,  depends  largely  upon 
the  efficiency  of  the  various  necessary  committees — a  committee 
on  grounds;  a  committee  on  publicity  (including  the  management  of  program  and  tick- 
ets); a  committee  on  music;  a  committee  to  secure  actors;  a  committee  on  costumes;  a 
committee  on  finance;  all  of  which  should  be  local  people.  Other  committees  may  be 
added  if  the  pageant  is  a  large  one.  There  must  be  a  local  chauman  of  the  executive 
committee,  a  local  treasurer  and  a  secretary  whose  duty  is  to  disseminate  news  of  the 
pageant  and  serve  as  question  box.  Three  competent  and  responsible  persons  are  suf- 
ficient to  constitute  any  of  the  committees.  To  enlist  a  wide  circle  of  workers,  there 
is  usually  a  committee  of  hospitality,  including  leading  citizens  who  are  not  active  on 
other  committees;  or  an  advisory  committee  of  patronesses,  sometimes  spoken  of  as  the 
"scenery  committee."  A  list  of  people  of  talent  may  give  prestige  to  the  affair. 


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A  Handbook    of  American  Pageantry 

The  duties  of  the  committees  are  obvious  from  their  titles.  They  should  be  formed 
early,  at  least  three  months  before  the  date  of  the  pageant  and  preferably  six  months. 
The  members  should  be  selected  with  a  view  to  their  working  together  harmoniously  as 
well  as  to  their  fitness  for  their  special  department.  Artists  should  be  on  the  commit- 
tees of  properties,  costumes  and  the  supervision  of  grounds.  The  industrious  women 
found  in  each  church  sewing-circle  should  combine  in  preparing  the  costumes.  Active, 
energetic  women  who  have  plenty  of  confidence  must  constitute  the  committee  of  regis- 
tration of  actors.  This  committee  to  secure  actors  and  conduct  registration  has  the 
rather  unpleasant  task  of  whipping  in  the  tardy  and  delinquent  and  compelling  punctu- 
ality of  attendance.  The  best  result  comes  when  the  actors  for  each  episode  are  taken 
from  a  club,  a  school,  or  a  church  society.  Amateur  actors  may  be  secured  for  a  pag- 
eant much  more  readily  than  for  a  theatrical  play ;  out-of-doors  there  are  more  "scenery 
parts,"  less  stage-fright,  less  self-consciousness.  Solid  citizens  should  constitute  finance 
committees.  The  pageant  costs  money  to  somebody.  If  what  has  been  styled  a  major  pageant 
is  attempted  there  must  be  a  guarantee  fund  either  by  individuals,  by  groups,  or  by  the  city 
or  large  organization.  It  is  necessary  to  raise  a  fund  of  at  least  $2000  as  a  foundation  on 
which  to  conduct  business  and  secure  credit  for  contracting  preliminary  bills.  The  two 
largest  American  pageants  cost  many  thousand  dollars  more  than  were  received.   Some 

152 


The  Committees 

have  made  money;  others  were  given  purely  for  charitable  purposes.  After  a  pageant 
is  over  the  irrepressible  cynic  often  touches  a  raw  spot  when  he  inquires  of  the  master 
what  use  will  be  made  of  the  profits.  Prof.  George  P.  Baker  holds  that  a  pageant  is 
worth  five  thousand  dollars  to  any  town  whether  paying  expenses  or  not. 

The  committee  on  grounds  has  charge  of  parking  automobiles,  supplying  refresh- 
ments, erecting  benches,  providing  ushers.  The  latter  should  be  in  costume.  High 
School  girls  in  dainty  toilets  of  colonial  dames  make  very  cheery  ushers.  At  the  Mission 
Pageant  of  California  librettos  were  sold  at  the  entrance  by  a  real  Indian,  Chief  Chain 
Lightning. 

As  soon  as  the  project  of  giving  a  pageant  is  determined  upon,  the  best  thing  to 
do  is  to  call  a  joint  mass  meeting,  and  announce  that  some  pageant  master 
or  prominent  official  will  speak,  to  point  out  the  possibilities  for  the  locality.  By  relating 
the  experience  of  other  places,  a  spirit  of  emulation  and  confidence  is  roused.  From  the 
people  who  attend  this  meeting,  a  large  general  committee  is  selected,  for  it  may  be  as- 
sumed that  their  presence  indicates  an  active  interest  in  the  scheme.  The  chairmen  of 
these  committees  should  be  selected  with  a  view  to  their  capacity  for  assuming  responsi- 
bility. Ignore  indolents,  mimimies,  shirks.  Ability  without  reliability  is  aggravating. 
Immediately  each  of  these  sub-committees  sets  about  contributing  to  the  "spirit  of 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

the  hive."  The  various  chairmen  should  constitute  the  board  of  strategy  which  meets 
weekly  to  give  members  opportunity  to  compare  notes  and  assist  one  another,  always 
in  company  with  the  master  of  the  pageant,  who,  in  this  way,  keeps  in  touch  with  every 
branch  of  the  undertaking.  The  question  of  how  long  a  time  should  be  consumed  in 
rehearsals  is  open  for  discussion.  Some  believe  that  the  fewer  the  rehearsals,  the  more 
spontaneous  the  performance.  Rehearsals  are  misleading,  often  heart-rending,  affairs. 
The  master  often  has  to  prop  up  his  drooping  spirits  by  repeating  the  old  adage : 
A  poor  rehearsal  makes  a  good  performance.  Others  find  perfection  and  precision  exactly 
in  proportion  to  the  number  of  preliminary  rehearsals.  A  picked-up  pageant  may  be  as 
happy  as  one  long  labored  o'er.  The  splendid  pageant  at  the  University  of  Virginia  was 
whipped  together  in  two  weeks  while  that  at  Belmont  Park  in  Philadelphia  was  two  years 
in  preparation.  There  is  a  focus  of  time  as  well  as  of  space.  The  players  must  be  trained 
sufficiently  to  comprehend  what  they  are  driving  at;  on  the  other  hand  they  should  not 
be  drilled  imtil  they  grow  stale  and  lose  enthusiasm.  Jollity,  abandon,  naivete,  gusto, 
dance  attendance  on  a  new  affection. 


154 


< 

/5 


a! 
O 

u 

Q 


o 


[xl 

Q 


> 


CHAPTER  XL 

Publicity. 

Let  a  man  talk  a  very  long  while, 
Let  a  man  talk  a  very  long  while, 
Let  a  man  talk  a  very  long  while, 
A  hole  he  will  bore  in  a  rock. 


Indian  Philosophy. 


A 

MERICA  advertises.  To  let  the  world  know  what  you  have  in  the 
market  is  the  prime  necessity.  There  is  no  more  legitimate  way  of 
putting  a  town  "on  the  map"  than  through  the  community  pag- 
eant. The  possibilities  of  advertising  are  unlimited  as  the  pageant 
combines  Old  Home  Week,  Camp  Meeting  Revival,  Grand  Opera, 
Circus,  and  County  Fan*  rolled  into  one.  Publicity  must  be  scattered  far  and  wide  to 
call  back  wanderers  from  distant  points.  A  trainload  of  250  came  across  the  continent 
from  the  Pacific  coast  to  attend  the  Machias,  Maine,  pageant. 

In  the  matter  of  advertising  you  cannot  begin  too  early.  A  word  to  the  wise 
is  not  sufficient.  Life  nowadays  is  so  full  of  distractions  that  many  who  are  not  imme- 
diately interested  will  not  be  aware  of  the  pageant  unless  the  news  is  repeatedly  shouted  from 
the  house  tops.   Talk  must  be  of  two  kinds :  talk  by  the  promoters,  and  talk  by  the  general 


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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

public.  The  first  is  manufactured  and  forced — the  latter  voluntary  and  spontaneous.  This 
is  accomplished  by  systematic  methods.  Three  preliminary  announcements  are  often 
sent  out;  the  first,  four  months  previous  to  the  production;  the  second,  two  months;  the 
third,  two  weeks.  Each  of  these  should  be  different;  phrased  in  alluring  language  giving 
a  synopsis  of  the  affair  and  sent  to  newspaper  editors,  librarians,  school  teachers,  public 
officials,  hotel  keepers  and  prominent  citizens  throughout  the  teiTitory  from  which  attend- 
ance is  expected.  There  is  considerable  literature  connected  with  a  pageant.  Ingenuity  is 
required  to  make  a  sensation  which  will  occupy  the  front  page  of  local  newspapers.  The 
American  Press  is  usually  willing  to  disseminate  news  about  pageants  since  so  large  a  num- 
ber are  interested  that  a  wide  circle  of  readers  is  touched.  Besides  circulars  and  news- 
paper notices,  a  poster  is  a  valuable  adjimct  in  advertising  and  calls  out  thoughtful  skill 
for  creating  appropriate  designs — not  the  dreary,  dull,  machine-made  posters,  often 
reproduced  from  photographs — something  fresh,  insinuating,  startling,  to  awaken  the 
imagination.  The  pageant  poster  offers  opportunity  for  singing  lines  and  extravagance  of 
composition.  The  daring  swirls  of  Outamaro  and  Beardsley,  pre-raphaelitism  and  post- 
impressionism,  Will  Bradleys  and  Nell  Brinkleys,  may  come  into  play.  The  blatant 
and  bare-faced  prevarication  of  circus  barn-posters  is,  of  course,  out  of  order,  for  a  pag- 
eant should  be  marked  by  reserve  and  conscience.  Banners    across    the    street   reach 

158 


Publicity 

the  automobile  public;  likewise  arrows  pointing  to  the  grounds.  Special  pennants, 
watchfobs,  buttons  and  other  novelties  may  be  sold.  Sandwich  men,  advertising  wagons 
and  transparency  are  rather  too  common;  but  a  well-costumed  Uncle  Sam  striding 
through  the  streets  and  politely  inquiring  the  way  to  the  pageant  grounds  of  various 
persons  he  meets  is  not  ill-advised. 

Another  good  plan  is  to  have  special  stationery,  with  a  pleasing  design  on  the 
outside,  distributed  gratuitously,  months  in  advance,  to  local  townspeople  who  will 
write  to  their  friends.  By  sending  thousands  of  attractive  envelopes  through  the  local 
post  office  no  one  is  allowed  to  forget  the  date  of  the  performance.  The  programs 
must  explain  the  order  of  episodes  and  outline  the  affair,  and  need  not  necessarily  be 
longer  than  to  name  the  players  and  the  characters  assumed.  Though  often  the 
programs  contain  a  complete  libretto  and  are  sold  for  twenty-five  cents  as  a  souvenir 
to  be  preserved.  They  are  frequently  models  of  the  printer's  art.  The  omission  of 
commercial  advertising  on  these  programs  is  much  more  agreeable  to  the  esthetic  sense 
if  financial  conditions  will  allow.  The  cover-design  of  the  pageant  book  should  endeavor 
to  suggest  the  genius  loci  so  that  it  will  be  treasured  as  a  keepsake  of  a  red-letter  day. 

On  the  day  of  the  production  an  old  stage  coach  filled  with  costimied  colonial  dames 
to  pass  out  flyers  around  the  town  has  proved  successful.     Just  before  the  performance 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

trumpeting  heralds  may  ride  through  the  streets  serving  as  appropriate  barkers.  It  is 
well  to  encourage  the  players  to  dress  at  home  to  make  people  "take  notice"  as  they 
go  to  the  grounds.  A  squad  of  troops  crossing  the  public  square  with  throbbing  tread  and 
beating  drums  thrills  the  imagination,  and  reminds  the  populace  that  the  show  is  on. 


m 


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X 


a 


o 


H 
Z 

a 
S 
a 
o 
z 

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O 

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z 

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.J 


CHAPTER  XII 

Dialogue 

Day  unto   day  uttereth  speech. 


Psalms. 


p 

ffi 

AINT  is  the  medium  for  delineating  external  nature  but  words  for 
himian  nature,  observes  a  philosopher.  How  much  dialogue  should 
enter  into  a  pageant  has  been  discussed  at  length  by  many  author- 
ities. Whether  a  deaf  person  should  be  able  to  enjoy  the  show 
equally  as  well  as  a  person  in  full  possession  of  the  five  senses  is 
debatable.  Some  hold  that  a  pageant  should  be  wholly  pantomimic— a  song  without 
words,  a  silent  drama — partly  because  in  a  large  out-of-door  production,  the  voice  can 
with  difficulty  be  heard,  partly  because  in  an  amateur  performance  there  are  so  few  accept- 
able speakers,  and  also  because  the  interest  is  held  by  the  panoramic  scene  and  words 
only  serve  to  distract  from  the  color.  Talk  is  distinctly  human.  Audiences  are  more 
likely  to  be  bored  into  weariness  by  words  than  by  action.  Special  care  must  be  taken 
not  to  allow  the  spectators  to  remember  that  the  seats  are  not  upholstered  and  that  they 
are  sitting  under  the  blazing  sun.    By  all  means  don't  talk  them  into  the  ground. 

Others  insist  upon  the  spoken  word,  contending  that  it  is  impossible  to  give  a  dumb 


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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

show  with  complete  satisfaction  to  a  human  audience;  that  the  charm  of  the  well-trained 
voice  is  sometimes  greater  than  the  charm  of  the  physical  individual;  that  speech  is  the 
polite  means  of  commnication  and  may  touch  a  chord  of  sympathy  when  all  other  means 
fail;  that  it  is  frequently  necessary  to  put  the  situation  into  words — to  make  sure  of  "put- 
ting over  the  idea."  The  best  result  comes  when  the  dialogue  is  as  sparing  and  meaty 
as  possible — a  gem  of  epigram  in  a  setting  of  pantomime  and  music.  Stretches  of  si- 
lence on  either  side  of  a  strong  sentence  are  more  forcible  than  a  rivulet  of  words  which, 
brook-like,  runs  on  forever.  Reserve  is  essential.  What  is  left  out  is  often  as  effective, 
artistically,  as  what  is  put  in.  Space  is  a  great  asset  in  all  the  arts.  The  shout  of  the  multi- 
tude, a  forcible  exclamation  by  a  single  character,  the  reading  of  an  important  proclamation 
might  be  sufficient  for  a  whole  episode.  A  good  round  oath  coming  like  a  bolt  from  the 
blue  is  likely  to  fix  a  character  in  mind.  At  Bennington,  Vermont,  when  the  capture  of 
Ticonderoga  by  Ethan  Allen  was  portrayed,  the  fact  that  he  was  known  to  be  a  man  of  very 
robust  vocabulary  was  featured  by  giving  a  scene  in  silence  imtil,  at  the  critical  moment, 
when  the  British  officer  was  captured,  Allen  with  a  blood-curdling  oath,  demands  his 
surrender  in  the  name  of  the  Great  Jehovah. 

Words  should  mark  the  culmination  of  action.    Quick,  staccato,  nervous  dialogue 
of  the  stage  play  gives  way  to  heroic  rounded  periods  on  the  pageant  field.       The 

164 


Dialogue 

task  of  the  librettist  is  to  drape  the  crumbling  ruins  of  the  past  in  an  ivy-mantle 
of  romantic  language.  Let  the  dialogue  be  heroic  but  not  stagey;  with  some  of 
the  stateliness  of  grand  opera.  Avoid  slip-shod  jocularity.  Be  terse  and  pungent,  not 
vapid  and  foggy.  If  the  incident  and  action  are  vigorous,  the  simpler  the  speech,  the 
more  moving  it  is.  Pageantry  is  so  elemental  that  refinement  of  phrase,  unless  cleverly 
done,  will  seem  flat.  Chisel  words  with  granite  edges — homely  similes,  vernacular 
sayings,  native  wit,  vigorous  and  sentimental  appeals  to  emotion.  A  local  ballad  maybe 
happily  introduced.  It  is  more  delightful  to  an  auditor  to  imagine  an  idea  from  a  gentle 
hint  than  to  feel  a  reflection  upon  his  comprehension  by  a  verbose  explanation.  To  give 
atmosphere  you  must  love  what  you  are  working  at;  transmute  yom'self  into  your  oc- 
cupation. In  preparing  a  pageant,  measure  yourself  against  all  of  your  characters. 
Wherever  possible,  feature  little-used  and  obscure  incidents  which  have  not  grown  thread- 
bare at  local  firesides.  In  many  cases  there  will  be  some  dialogue  more  or  less  authen- 
tic, which  will  supply  the  kernel  for  a  picturesque  incident.  It  is  not  always  the  great 
historic  scene  bulking  large  in  history,  that  is  most  important;  some  trifling  touch  may 
give  character  to  the  entire  play.  The  mind  cannot  hold  more  than  a  limited  number  of 
impressions  distinctly;  therefore  a  pageant  must  be  kept  sufficiently  simple  to  avoid  a 
blur  of  confusion. 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

The  dialogue  and  action  must  always  have  one  commanding  point.  Put  the  far 
reaching  effects  of  the  incidents  in  the  mouths  of  speakers  in  the  form  of  reminiscences  or 
traditions.  Many  pageant  books  have  been  so  excellent  that  they  have  been  presented  in 
other  places  than  those  in  which  they  were  of  local  interest  just  as  a  good  play  survives  its 
original  place  and  time.  Pageants  have  been  written  in  blank  verse,  in  rhyme,  in  tedious 
prose,  in  epigrammatic  English.  In  order  to  have  the  text  survive  the  occasion,  it  must 
have  literary  quality.  Someone  who  "lisps  in  numbers"  should  write  whatever  verse  is 
needed.  The  measured  iambics  of  poetry  seem  most  apropos  "when  Tragedy  in  sceptered 
pall  comes  riding  by".  Several  episodes  from  different  pageants  are  appended  as  sug- 
gestions for  those  writuag  dialogues  or  scenarios. 


166 


DANCK  Ol-    nil-.   IM'.VIL  AM)    IHK  NhW    l-.Sl.l.AM)  O  i\Jil  I  I,  Si-  I- 
VIRGINIA   TANNER    AND   FRANK    CHOUTKAl'    BROWN 


A  1'agi;ani-  solo  dancer  in  full  career. 

ING  CARE  TO  THE  WINDS. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

Costume. 
Fashion  wears  out  more  clothes  than  the  man. 


Tailor's   Proverb. 


N  costuming  a  pageant,  there  are  infinite  opportunities  for  those 
punctilious  persons  who  believe  that  one  might  as  well  be  out  of 
the  world  as  out  of  style.  The  dry  goods  department 
comes  in  for  much  discussion,  especially  by  the  distaff  side 
of  the  human  family.  Emerson  speaks  of  a  lady  who  could 
get  more  comfort  out  of  the  consciousness  that  she  was  wearing  a  well-fitting  dress 
than  she  could  from  the  consolations  of  the  church.  In  pageant  costumes  a  good  fit  is  not 
to  be  despised,  but  general  grace  of  line  and  beauty  of  color  are  the  first  essentials. 

For  pageant  purposes,  certain  standard  types  of  dress  are  recognized  which  will  sug- 
gest at  once  the  different  periods.  American  history  begins  with  the  Norsemen  and 
Vikings  in  their  tight-fitting  suits  of  gray  and  armored  breast  plates,  with  wings  on  hat  and 
spear  in  hand.  The  explorers  of  the  Captain  John  Smith  period  wore  heavy  boots,  steel 
corslet  and  morion,  long  cloak  and  sword  at  the  side.  Then  came  the  Puritans,  the 
simplest  in  attire  and  most  beautiful;  blue-gray  dress  for  the  women,  white  kerchief,  wrist 


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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry- 
bands  and  caps;  for  the  men  the  steeple-crowned  hat,  short  breeches,  buckled  shoes 
and  broad  white  collar.  This  costume  may  be  used  for  the  colonial  type  until 
1700.  The  American  Indian  is  readily  portrayed  with  some  grease  paint  (sienna  and 
orpiment),  turkey  feathers,  brown  fleshings,  painted  canvas  moccasins  and  bow  and  ar- 
rows. An  Indian  naked  from  the  waist  up  and  carrying  a  blanket  is  best.  Indian  cos- 
tumes are  made  of  leather-colored  canton  flannel,  cut  in  strips,  fringed  and  painted  with 
lines  and  stripes,  then  further  decorated  with  beads,  claws,  shells  and  feathers.  The 
more  blue  and  yellow  paint  daubed  on  the  face,  the  more  ferocious  and  terrifying  the  braves 
become.  Since  the  Landing  of  the  Pilgrims  there  have  been  ten  generations,  each  with  its 
own  peculiar  fancies.  The  pioneer  frontiersman  must  have  his  coon-skin  cap,  fringed  buck 
skin  coat  and  long  hunting  rifle;  the  sober  Quaker,  his  broad-brimmed  hat  and  dun-colored 
clothes  of  simple  trimming;  the  Colonial  parson,  his  skull  cap,  black  flowing  gown,  white  lap- 
pet, wrist  bands  and  full-bottomed  wig;  the  Southern  Cavalier  was  distinguished  from  the 
Puritan  by  more  gaiety  and  picturesqueness;  his  hair  was  long,  he  wore  a  mustache  and 
goatee,  a  white  lace  collar,  velvet  cloak,  jaunty  hat  and  slender  rapier.  With  the  Revo- 
lutionary Period  came  more  color  both  North  and  South;  red  coats,  bright-colored  nan- 
keen waistcoats,  white  stockings,  buckled  shoes,  and  three-cornered  hats.  The  women 
had  their  brocades,  china  silks,  and  wide  skirts  with  many  flounces  and  furbelows;  their 

170 


Costume 

hair  was  dressed  high  and  powdered  and  they  were  careful  about  theu-  patches.  The  period 
of  1840  marks  the  appearance  of  the  tight  pantaloon,  strapped  under  a  calf-skin  boot, 
the  top-heavy  beaver  hat  and  swallow-tail  coat;  women  wore  calashes,  mitts  and 
balanced  half-grown  parasols.  The  Civil  War  gives  us  the  veteran  with  his  faded  blue 
uniform;  the  same  period  witnessed  the  culmination  of  the  fashion  of  wide  hoop  skirts 
for  women.  Mantles  and  poke  bonnets  were  worn.  With  this  alphabet  of  characters  the 
essential  stages  of  American  sartorial  progress  may  be  spelled  by  the  pageant.  At  the 
Mt.  Holyoke  pageant  celebrating  its  75th  anniversary,  seventy-five  different  college  girls 
each  wore  a  costume  supposed  to  illustrate  the  style  of  a  different  year. 

In  order  that  the  wardrobe  may  yield  its  maximum  service,  it  must  be  properly 
housed  and  inventoried.  Small  articles  like  caps,  hats,  shoes,  aprons,  girdles,  wreathes, 
crowns,  should  be  kept  separately  and  a  label  slip  attached.  A  tiring  maid  should  make 
it  her  sole  duty  to  check  up  every  article.  Garments  in  sets  like  tunics,  kimonos, 
soldier's  uniforms,  should  be  folded  away  in  large  trunks  or  boxes.  This  is  better  than  to 
hang  them  upon  pegs.  The  mistress  of  the  robes  has  an  arduous  task  and  never  prob- 
ably was  a  pageant  given  in  which  she  could  account  for  every  costume  that  left  her  hands. 
Precious  heirlooms  preserved  for  centuries,  sometimes  vanish  into  thin  air.  Beware  of 
borrowing  these  old  heirlooms  for  when  a  young  lady  wears  a  dress  which  did  not  be- 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry- 
long  to  her  own  great-grandmother,  she  may  possibly  be  a  trifle  careless  about  its  subse- 
quent destination.   Such  valued  trifles  have  been  fished  out  of  the  ash  barrel  weeks  after 
the  pageant. 

Three  kinds  of  knowledge  are  needed  to  handle  successfully  this  matter  of  costumes: 
First,  a  knowledge  of  color;  second,  skill  in  the  use  of  materials;  third,  a  knowledge  of 
prices  which  enable  the  costumer  to  keep  within  her  appropriation.  To  buy  in  large  quan- 
tities is  cheapest;  a  large  mass  of  one  color  or  style  is  most  desirable.  As  to  prices, 
cheese  cloth  ranges  from  six  to  ten  cents  per  yard;  silkaline,  ten  to  twelve  cents  per  yard; 
crepe  cloth,  from  fifteen  cents  up;  muslins  and  cambrics,  six  cents  up;  galatea  and  per- 
caline  and  canton  flannel,  from  twelve  cents  up.  An  interesting  feature,  if  one  is  chemi- 
cally inclined,  is  the  dyeing  of  materials  to  make  a  soft  harmonizing  effect,  or  clear, 
sharp  contrasts.    Vegetable  or  Diamond  Dyes  may  be  used. 

Groups  of  industrious  and  willing  townswomen  should  gather  for  social  sewing 
bees.  This  is  part  of  the  pleasure  of  the  pageant  work.  At  Philadelphia  this  committee 
met  daily  for  weeks  in  Independence  Hall.  The  neighborhood  school  house  comes  in 
handy  for  this  purpose.  In  England,  each  participant  frequently  pays  for  his  or  her  own 
costume.  The  price  of  home-made  costumes  varies  from  twenty-five  cents  to  two  dollars 
while  very  elaborate  costumes  may  be  hired  for  the  siunptuous  chai'acters  at  two  dollars 

172 


THIS    YOUNG    LADY    WORE    PANTALETTES    IN 

GOOD  SPIRIT.    INDIANAPOLIS  PAGEANT 

BY  MISS  CHARITY  DYE. 


DANCE    OF    TACITA,    THE    WOOD    NYMPH,     AND    QUERCl'S.    1  HE    FAUN. 
JULIET    BARRETT    RLBLEE    AND    JOSEPH     L.    SMITH. 


a: 
H 


X 
H 

H 

O 


Costume 

per  day.  Costumes  are  often  the  result  of  immediate  expediency  rather  than  finished 
ideals  such  as  were  the  pride  of  the  merveilleuses  of  the  French  Directory.  Co-operative 
dressmaking  is  most  satisfactory.  Let  a  single  work- woman  make  all  the  white 
ruffles  and  collars,  another  take  charge  of  the  sugar  loaf  hats;  tin  buckles  for  shoes 
may  be  assigned  to  a  local  tinsmith.  Patterns  may  be  prepared  from  which  to  make 
coats,  breeches  and  capes  by  using  heavy  wrapping  paper.  The  American  Felt  Co.,  of 
Boston,  will  send  samples  of  much  useful  material.  Other  manufacturers  offer  sample 
books.  If  the  mistress  of  the  robes  organizes  the  dressmaking  in  a  systematic  way, 
the  better  the  chance  of  having  the  costumes  ready  in  time  for  plenty  of  rehearsals. 
The  dress  stimulates  the  acting,  makes  the  pose  more  natural  and  more  graceful. 
Young  girls  must  become  accustomed  to  trailing  robes  or  awkward  mishaps  may  re- 
sult. Long  practice  is  required  to  wear  a  chiton  or  tunic  with  classic  ease  and  distinc- 
tion. Lead  beads  assist  in  the  hang  of  a  garment.  Armor,  weapons  and  boot-spurs 
may,  by  their  jangling,  drown  out  somebody's  speech  and  set  the  audience  a-tittering. 
In  Indiana,  a  pageant  mistress  writes  that  it  was  only  with  the  greatest  coaxing,  and 
after  many  imsuccessful  attempts,  that  she  could  get  a  girl  to  appear  in  old-fashioned 
pantalettes.  Perhaps  it  is  unnecessary  to  mention  that  cotton  batting  is  serviceable 
to  give  embonpoint  to  deficient  anatomy. 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

Books  which  give  valuable  suggestions  upon  costuming  a  pageant  are  Alice  Morse 
Earle's  "Two  Centuries  of  Costumes  in  America,"  Elizabeth  McClellen's  "Historic 
Dress  in  America"  (two  volumes),  "English  Costumes"  by  D.  C.  Calthrop  (4  volumes). 
An  excellent  work  is  "Modes  and  Manners  of  the  Nineteenth  Century"  by  M.  Edwardes 
and  Grace  Rhys,  also  "Chats  on  Costume,  or  Treatment  of  Drapery  in  Art"  by  G.  N. 
Rhead.     Indispensible  to  the  costume  maker  is  "Dress  Design"  by  Talbot  Hughes. 

A  pageant  should  illuminate  the  landscape  with  a  sort  of  barbaric,  oriental  splen- 
dor. Through  the  costumes  the  great  illusion  of  color  is  effected.  Prismatic  colors  un- 
der sunlight  become  entrancing.  The  color  scheme  must  be  thoughtfully  worked  out. 
Use  related  colors — blue  and  green,  yellow  and  gi'een.  Colors  which  harmonize  are  more 
pleasing  than  colors  in  contrast.  Remember  that  blue  and  gold,  red  and  green,  violet  and 
orange,  brown  and  yellow,  always  go  well  together.  Under  the  sunlight  "louder",  more 
violent,  colors  may  be  used  than  in  the  diffused  light  indoors;  atmosphere,  distance  and 
natural  green  subdue  color.  Avoid  shrill  greens  and  raucous  blues  except  in  lighter 
shades.  When  various  colors  must  come  together  in  a  large  group,  they  may  be  har- 
monized by  introducing  a  few  white,  old  gold  or  neutral  gray  costumes.  Black  should 
be  used  very  sparingly  unless  in  a  mourning  scene;  instead,  use  dark  green  or  dark  blue 
broadcloth  for  deep  effects.    Artists  themselves  seldom  agree  as  to  what  constitutes  art- 

176 


Costume 

istic  coloring.  There  is  considerable  individual  liberty  on  this  score.  Nature  preserves 
the  balance  by  alternating  simshme  and  shadow,  fiery  sunset  after  a  gray  day,  yellow 
sand  against  purplish  sea,  the  robin's  red  breast  against  the  verdant  lawn.  Only  a 
small  accent  of  bright  color  should  be  used  to  balance  wide  sweeps  of  grey  or  somber  tones. 
In  color  schemes  there  are  three  primary  colors :  Red,  blue,  and  yellow.  Some  artists 
claim  that  orange,  green  and  purple  should  be  included  on  the  primary  palette.  The 
secondary  palette  is  set  with  single  combinations  of  the  foregoing  colors,  but  when  we 
come  up  to  the  tertiary  palette,  we  get  those  delicate  gradations  of  color  vibrations 
which  only  the  master  can  handle.  Those  who  have  an  instinctive  feeling  for  color  har- 
monies may  accomplish  many  wonderful  effects,  but  the  novice  should  be  extremely  careful 
about  venturing  with  secondary  colors.  Only  a  Bakst  or  a  La  Farge  can  lay  red  against 
brown  or  pink  against  purple  with  impunity.  De  Longpre  at  his  magnificent  chateau  at 
Hollywood,  California,  has  the  spectrum  laid  out  in  flower  beds  in  his  garden.  This  plan  may 
be  advantageously  carried  out  when  children  give  a  floral  dance.  To  those  who  are  up 
in  the  finesse  of  the  game  every  color  has  a  symbolism  and  a  language  which  appeal 
to  the  understanding  mind,  made  much  of  by  the  Theosophist  cult.  Bold,  simple  treat- 
ment of  form,  either  in  silhouette  or  broad  outlines  and  flat  color  masses  is  generally 
most  desirable  at  the  hands  of  beginners.    Consider  masses  first  and  detail  afterwards. 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

The  pageant  worker  should  understand  the  value  of  a  dominant  color  and  shape  and 
of  daring  juxtaposition  to  create  life  and  movement  in  masses  of  color. 

In  processionals  the  lighter  colors  should  gradually  lead  up  to  the  dominant  note 
of  dark  or  vice  versa.  As  regards  the  composition  of  the  processionals  remember  that  up- 
right lines,  as  soldiers  at  present  arms,  give  dignity  and  stability.  To  give  movement 
a  line  should  project  forward  as  in  a  charge  of  bayonets.  To  give  feeling  of  rest,  horizontal 
or  trailiiig  lines,  as  a  person  in  a  sedan  chair.  The  relation  of  the  permanent  trees,  hills, 
rocks,  stationary  features  of  the  landscape,  dictate  the  relations  of  the  lines  out  of  doors; 
the  green  of  vegetation  calls  for  the  complimentary  note  of  red.  The  position  of  the 
various  elements,  the  fluid  reds,  blues,  oranges,  purples,  moving  triangles,  squares, 
circles,  serpentine  and  zig-zag  shapes,  must  be  so  arranged  as  to  make  for  unity,  rhythm, 
and  order.  As  one  director  expresses  it:  In  a  pageant  there  is  much  disorder,  a  hap- 
py tumult,  which  needs  the  helping  sunlight,  willing  spectators,  and  good  marching 
music  to  link  into  any  semblance  of  order.  The  same  laws  of  composition  obtain  in 
the  living  picture  as  on  the  canvas  of  a  master  painter.  At  night  the  calcium  lights 
may  more  readily  effect  this  result,  but  out  of  doors  in  the  daylight  there  should  be  a 
commanding  point  to  which  the  rest  is  a  supporting  lead.  Artistic  elements  must  be 
held  in  equilibrium. 

178 


MARKET  DAY  AT  DUTCH  SETTLEMENT     PAGEANT  AT  CROTON-ON  THEHUDSON.  NEW  YORK.      THE  PROPERTIES  CALLED 

FOR  COiNSIDERABLE  THOUGHT  AND  LABOR 


WILLIAM    PK.NN    AND    (JUAKLKS    liAKUAINlNt;    WLIU     llll':    KEOMIA'     I N  I'l  1  N,  \  I  )l  I.CI  { I  \    I'Al.l  ANl 


Costume 

The  colors  of  the  setting  should  be  echoed  in  the  costumes  just  as  natural  feat- 
ures should  be  echoed  minutely  in  the  properties.  Fairies  emerging  from  the  woods  may- 
be tastefully  clad  in  costumes  shading  from  Naples  yellow  to  umber.  Violet  and  lilac 
drapings  with  green  caps  are  very  chic  on  children.  Tissue  paper  hats,  flowers  and 
sashes  often  look  fresher  and  crisper  than  those  made  of  cloth.  Gauze  wings  for  butter- 
flies may  be  easily  stretched  upon  wire  frames  and  attached  to  the  shoulders  of  children. 
Imagination  and  fancy  are  allowed  to  play  in  the  costumes  for  the  dances  which  often 
present  a  most  admirable  suite  of  color.  The  best  trained  artists  should  be  brought  into 
requisition  to  create  the  drapings  for  the  different  episodes.  Laying  out  color  schemes  is 
congenial  occupation  to  them.  In  making  a  sketch,  use  toned  paper  of  quiet  green  for 
out-door  effects.  Use  water  colors  rather  than  oils.  Harmonies  are  better  than  contrasts  in 
the  very  largest  masses.  It  is  painful  to  a  sensitive  eye  in  the  audience  to  have  colors  "swear- 
ing" at  one  another.  Costumes  to  be  effective  need  not  be  made  of  rich  materials.  Great 
discrimination  should  be  used,  however,  in  choosing  fabrics  that  have  the  quality  and  color 
necessary  for  certain  effects.  Expediency  often  du-ects  that  one  should  simulate  silk  by 
cambric,  and  velvet  and  ermine  robes  with  canton  flannel  and  dabs  of  shoe  blacking,  but 
whenever  possible,  choose  fabrics  that  have  the  genuine  quality  rather  than  mere  surface 
similarity.   If  economy  must  be  maintained,  cheese  cloth  has  beautiful  draping  qualities 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

and  may  be  easily  dyed  in  charming  colors.  Designs  also  may  be  stencilled  upon  it.  Galatea 
is  an  inexpensive  fabric  which  has  beauty  and  firmness  without  stiffness,  and 
comes  in  many  shades.  Crepe  paper  is  cheap  and  capable  of  many  excellent 
effects  provided  it  is  not  touched  by  rain.  Jewels  may  be  made  of  pasteboard  covered 
with  gold  paint  and  tinfoil.  To  produce  a  sparkling  costume  put  mucilage  on  satin  and 
sprinkle  with  bits  of  broken  colored  glass.  A  group  of  children  in  white  dresses,  though 
of  varied  cut  and  material,  may  be  made  to  look  much  alike  by  uniform  headdress,  scarfs 
or  capes.  A  Greek  chorus  in  trailing  classic  robes  with  hair  in  Psyche  knots  and  sandalled 
feet  always  makes  an  attractive  appearance.  Missiles,  tapestry,  church  vestments,  buck- 
les, furniture  and  armor  may  be  left  to  the  ingenuity  of  the  local  Arts-and-Crafts  societies. 
Papier-mache  is  valuable  for  making  masks,  helmets,  greaves  and  light  properties.  Forts 
may  be  constructed  of  log  slabs  readily  fastened  by  hooks. 


182 


CHAPTER  XIV 

Music 
Listen  to  the  song  of  life. 


Light  on  the  Path. 


USIC  is  the  most  subtle  spiritual  agency  in  nature — something  vibra- 
ting above  human  experience — invisible,  intangible,  incorruptible. 
Someone  has  styled  it  the  "breath  of  Heaven."  The  happiness  of 
living  has  always  been  made  manifest  in  song.  Dr.  PIai-1  Muck, 
leader  of  the  Boston  Symphony  Orchestra,  says:  A  man  can- 
not sit  down  to  write  music  with  hate  and  evil  passions  in  his  heart.  The  finer 
aspu-ations  of  the  pageant  will  be  conveyed  through  its  music.  A  pageant  was  given  at 
Peterborough,  New  Hampshire,  the  home  of  McDowell,  the  composer,  where  an  attempt 
was  made  to  interpret  the  spu-it  of  the  town  through  tone  harmonies. 

Music  is  the  most  readily  appreciated,  without  training  or  education,  of  all  the  fine 
arts,  and  is  the  most  social  because  it  may  include  a  large  number  in  its  common  produc- 
tion and  is  the  most  natural  medium  for  expressing  the  emotions  of  a  popular 
gathering.  The  interest  of  the  crowd  may  be  held  by  music  which  could  not  hold  the 
indifferent    individual;    a    whole    audience    may   be   swayed    by    its  power.    Music 


183 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry- 
calls  up  trains  of  memories  and  not  only  soothes  the  savage  breast  but  touches  a  respon- 
sive chord  in  the  most  cultured  bosoms,  intensifying  the  moods  of  man.  In  the 
last  act  of  a  play  when  the  heroine  finally  melts  in  the  arms  of  the  hero  the  emotional 
appeal  to  the  audience  is  enhanced  by  tender  strains  upon  the  violin  and  when  some 
stealthy  deed  of  wickedness  is  to  be  enacted  the  sinister  feeling  is  heightened  by 
wierd  and  creepy  music  (albeit  "high-brows"  consider  this  a  vulgar  device).  Berenger 
said:  Let  me  make  the  songs,  and  I  care  not  who  makes  the  laws,  of  the  nation. 
Plato  speaks  of  the  medicinal  attribute  of  music.  Restaurants  recognize  its  digestive 
power.  If  an  eloquent  orator,  a  superb  dancer  and  a  finished  orchestra  were  each  in 
turn  to  make  an  appeal  to  an  audience — while  the  dancer  might  receive  the  most  vo- 
ciferous applause  and  the  orator  might  strike  the  deepest  chords  of  reason,  the  music 
would  lift  the  audience  to  the  highest  and  purest  emotional  heights. 

There  must,  of  course,  be  a  director  for  the  vocal  music  and  his  task  is  not  a  light 
one.  Many  rehearsals  will  be  necessary.  There  must  also  be  instrumental  music  which, 
in  part  at  least,  should  be  composed  for  the  occasion.  Home-made  music  is  not  al- 
ways such  as  will  become  immortal,  but  fulfills  the  purpose.  Different  motifs 
may  be  worked  out  for  different  themes,  as  the  forest  motif  in  California,  the  life-saver 
motif  by  Daniel  G.  Mason  at  Cape  Cod,  the  mountain  motif  by  James  T.  Sleeper 

184 


PILGRIMS  SIGNING  TRIiA  1  V  WITH  MASSASUlT.        NOTIi  ACCOMMOUAITNG  INDIAN  CONVERTING  HIMSELF  INTO  A  TABLE. 


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Music 

in  Vermont.  During  the  interludes  the  syncopated  tempo  of  modern  dance  music 
may  be  introduced  without  impropriety.  If  the  pageant  is  given  on  a  very  large 
arena,  with  wide  reaches  of  open  field,  a  full  brass  band  maybe  necessary;  but  if  it 
is  compact  and  condensed  into  a  small  compass,  a  ten-piece  orchestra  is  much  more 
in  harmony.  Try  to  have  the  orchestra  invisible.  A  sunken  pit  before  the  bleachers 
might  be  successful.  Better  to  screen  the  musicians  behind  a  reredos  of  shrubbery 
or  evergreen  trees  cut  down  and  arranged  as  if  in  natural  growth.  Especially  should 
this  be  the  case  with  a  miscellaneous  local  orchestra,  which  has  had  little  experi- 
ence in  playing  together.  It  is  desireable  to  use  local  musicians  but  the  charm 
of  a  pageant  is  grievously  marred  by  the  presence,  in  full  view  of  the  audience,  of  an  or- 
chestra in  which  fat,  perspiring,  be-spectacled  women  are  sawing  away  on  violins  and 
puffing  at  clarionettes.  In  selecting  the  musical  instruments  keep  as  near  the  Pipes  o' 
Pan  as  possible  and  far  from  the  victrola  or  "canned  music."  Whenever  the  Ameri- 
can orchestra  attains  that  final  completeness  of  the  ancient  Egyptian  orchestra  which 
had  instruments  to  imitate  the  sound  of  the  wind  in  the  trees,  the  waves  of  the  sea,  birds 
and  animals,  the  voices  of  nature,  it  will  be  peculiarly  fitted  for  out-door  work. 

Many  favorite  songs  are  commonly  used  in  pageants.    The  selection  of  suitable 
hymns  will  give  joy  to  the  local  hymnologist.     The  old  English  Bridgewater,  Federal 

187 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

Street,  Duke  Street,  Old  Hundred,  the  Doxology,  are  very  appropriate.    The  spirit  soars 

to  hear  a  crowd  in  the  open  singing  The  New  Jerusalem   or  How  Firm  a  Foundation, 

Auld  Lang  Syne,  Home,  Sweet  Home,  (a  brutal  assault  upon  the  feelings,  said  Stevenson), 

The  Same    Tides  Flow,   Old  Grimes,   express  the  reminiscent   mood;   for  a  stirring 

march.  The  Men  of  Harlech,  Onward,  Christian  Soldiers,  Mussards  1840,   Coronation 

March,  the  Processional  from  Tannhauser;  or  more  popular,  Sousa's  Stars  and  Stripes, 

Yankee  Doodle  and  Dixie.    For  dance  music.  Uncle  Jedediah,  Turkeys  in  the  Straw, 

Money  Musk. 

Appropriate  Indian  music  has  been  written  by  Arthur  Farwell,  Charles  W.  Cadman, 

Alice  Fletcher  and  Natalie  Curtis.     The  effect  of  vocal  music  is  enhanced  when  sung  in 

boats  across  the  water.     Antiphonals  by  groups  approaching  in  opposite   directions 

are  marvelously  effective  if  done  harmoniously.    Magnificent  verses  by  Rev.  Philo  W. 

Sprague  of  Boston,  have  been  set  to  music  by  various  composers  for  an  opening  chant 

by  Father  Time: 

I  came,  I  know  not  whence.   I  go,  I  know 
Not  Whither.   Eye  of  things  created  ne'er 
Upon  my  coming  looked,  nor  shall  it  see 
My  passing.    First  and  last  of  all  things  I, — 

For  I  am  Time. 

188 


Music 

Upon  the  whole  of  thmgs  that  little  man 
Calls  universe  I  looked,  ere  yet  the  hand 
Creative  wrought.      I  saw  when  Order  out 
Of  Chaos  came  and  suns  and  stars  were  bom, — 

For  I  am  Time. 

I've  seen  the  birth  of  man;  seen  how  through  strife, 
And  strain,  and  struggle  man  has  doffed  the  brute 
And  donned  the  human;  how  with  toil  and  tears 
Man  rises  still  and  learns  that  he  is  soul, — 

For  I  am  Time. 

A  national  pageant  anthem  has  been  written  by  Katherine  Lee  Bates,  first  sung  at  Port- 
land, Maine,  July  4, 1913: 

Oh,  beautiful  for  spacious  skies. 

For  amber  waves  of  grain 
For   purple  moimtain  majesties 

Above  the  fruited  plain! 

America!   America! 

God  shed  his  grace  on  thee 
And  crown  thy  good  with  brotherhood, 

From  sea  to  shining  sea. 
America!  America! 

189 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

An  exceptionally  fine  hymn,  which  should  become  a  pageant  classic,  was  com- 
posed by  Brooks  C.  Peters  for  the  St.  Johnsbury  pageant.  Many  of  our  American 
pageants  have  closed  by  the  congregational  singing  of  America,  "The  Star  Spangled 
Banner,"  or  some  well  known  hymn  such  as  "Our  God,  Our  Help  in  Ages  Past".  These 
are  sung  standing,  the  audience  rising  as  is  customary  in  the  Hallelujah  Chorus.  The 
Dutch,  Swedes,  Cavaliers,  Huguenots,  and  other  pioneers  claim  they  are  slighted 
in  the  choice  of  America  as  national  anthem,  which  mentions  only  the  Pilgrim  Fathers. 
"It  is  disgusting,"  says  one  writer,  "to  witness  an  audience  in  America  scrambling  to 
its  feet  at  the  behest  of  the  fiddle."  Here  is  a  question  for  the  pageant  to  decide: 
\^Tiether  or  not  the  national  hymns  America  and  Star  Spangled  Banner  shall  be  sung 
"on  the  legs." 


190 


DANCING  THE  EARLY  ENGI  ISH  CAROLE  IN  APPROI'RLATE  COSTUME.   PAGEANT  OF  NORTHAMPTON.  MASSACHU.SETTS. 


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a 


CHAPTER  XV 

Dancing 

For  sports,  for  pageantrie  and  playes,  thou  hast  thy  eves  and  holydayes; 
On  which  the  young  men  and  maids  meet,  to  exercise  their  dancing  feet, 
Tripping  the  comely  country  round,  with  daffodils  and  daisies  crowned. 


Herrick 


OUSSEAU  pronounced  song  and  dance  the  twin  children  of  love 
and  leisure.  Very  properly  then  they  belong  to  pageantry. 
Dancing  is  the  sauce-piquante  of  a  human  festival,  relieving  the 
grave  historical  groundwork  of  a  community  pageant  like  a  delicate 
pattern  of  embroidery  on  the  edges  of  a  garment.  Dancing  is 
physical  cult\ire  in  the  form  of  glorified  motion;  producing  a  psychological  as  well  as 
physiological  experience.  In  earliest  days  it  was  not  only  healthful  and  ornamental,  but 
religious  and  sacred.  The  dance  as  it  appeared  in  primitive  races  (and  it  is  as  old  as 
the  human  leg)  was  the  most  immediate  and  efficient  expression  of  feeling.  Barbaric  races 
found  in  it  the  intensest  enjoyment  of  which  they  were  capable.  When  scuplture  was  rude, 
painting  crude  and  poetry  unknown,  the  dance  was  perfected  and  men  and  women  kept  ac-  ■ 
curate  time  and  cadence  in  their  movements.  It  was  symbolism  pure  and  simple.  The 
conclusion  of  peace,  ripening  of  the  harvest,  beginning  of  warfare,  initiation  of  youth  into  the 


193 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

mysteries  of  manhood,  meeting  with  friends,  return  from  a  successful  hunt,  recovery  from 
ilhiess,  end  of  a  period  of  mourning,  each  had  an  individual  meaning  and  movement. 
As  civilization  advances  social  life  becomes  more  reflective,  less  impulsive.  Life's  poetry 
bums  out  as  man  approaches  the  sun.  The  odes  of  Pindar  recited  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  lyric  dance  and  music  was  a  pageant  morceau  of  the  Golden  Days  of  Greece. 
Homer  spoke  of  dancing  as  the  sweetest  and  most  perfect  of  human  enjoyments.  But 
the  dignified  Roman  law-maker  Cicero  said:  Nemo  Jere  saltat  sobrius,  nisi  forte  insanit, 
and  Sallust  went  so  far  as  to  write:  She  dances  too  well  for  a  virtuous  woman. 

The  language  of  action  is  most  readily  understood  by  the  entire  human  family. 
No  other  art  moves  and  excites  all  persons  so  easily. 

What  cannot  be  said,  can  be  sung, 
What  cannot  be  sung,  can  be  danced. 

Those  who  cannot  converse  with  one  another  by  word  of  mouth  can  imderstand  the 
language  of  a  dance  of  fear,  of  love,  of  jealousy,  of  anger,  of  adoration,  of  beauty,  of  in- 
spiration; dances  of  spring,  summer,  autumn  and  winter;  dances  of  courage,  victory, 
witchcraft;  dances  of  gnomes  and  fairies;  dances  of  birds  and  butterflies,  flowers  and  trees 
and  plains;  dances  of  sheer  joy  of  breathing  the  breath  of  life. 

As  a  means  of  developing  elasticity  of  body,  spontaneity  of  movement,  the  classic 

194 


Dancing 

and  lyric  form  of  dancing  is  recognized  by  educators.  It  induces  higher  vitality, 
broadens  the  powers,  stimulates  the  imagination,  making  a  student  a  finer  being 
than  he  could  be  without  it;  besides  providing  outlet  for  the  natural  impulse  to  move 
the  body  to  musical  rhythm.  "If  there  were  more  dancing  in  the  world  there  would  be  less 
sickness,  sorrow,  ugliness,  wretchedness,"  says  a  prominent  pageant  dancer  of  Boston. 
The  dancing  master  of  Moliere  declared:  All  the  misfortunes  of  men,  all  the  fatal  reverses 
that  fill  the  world's  annals,  the  blunders  of  statesmen  and  the  shortcomings  of  great  cap- 
tains, have  arisen  from  their  not  knowing  how  to  dance. 

Tracing  the  evolution  of  dancing  in  America  we  see  that  leaden-footed  Pioneers 
frowned  on  all  pleasures  of  the  senses  and  held  up  a  warning  finger  against  the  instinct  for 
beauty  in  the  spirit  life.  Before  the  Revolution  an  effort  to  establish  a  dancing  school  in  Bos- 
ton failed  dismally.  The  young  fry  of  the  eighteenth  century  in  their  exuberance  presum- 
ably skipped  about  in  total  depravity  shocking  the  parson  and  church  elders;  but  when- 
ever the  Revolutionary  patriot  danced  it  was  with  great  simplicity,  with  measured  step  and 
a  few  gestures,  gallant  bowings  and  parades  around  the  assembly  room.  Less  than 
a  century  ago  the  waltz  was  introduced  from  Russia  and  Vienna.  The  multiplicity  of 
modem  dances  is  evidence  that  the  human  race  was  intended  to  express  itself  in  rhyth- 
mic motion.    Dancing  is  the  natural  concomitant  of  music.  As  soon  as  the  band  begins 

195 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

to  play  the  body  begins  to  vibrate  in  sympathetic  unison  when  a  person  has  imagi- 
nation, feehng,  and  a  sense  of  rhythm.  In  the  pageant  festival,  we  find  the  de- 
scriptive or  story-telling  dance;  the  symbolic  and  classic  dance;  the  folk  dances;  the 
graceful  solo  dance;  and  the  formal  collective  social  dances.  Those  muscle-dancers  who 
so  delighted  King  David  would  be  no  less  out  of  place  than  the  tainted  tangoes  of  the 
Palm  Garden  or  amorous  embosomings  of  the  Summer  Pavilion,  Enough  for  America 
to  be  humiliated  by  cards  posted  in  continental  dance  halls  of  Europe — "American  dances 
prohibited."  No  prize  cups  in  pageantry.  Rhythm  and  grace  are  their  own  rewards  to 
persons  of  good  taste,  and  sensitive  to  criticism. 

The  evidence  is  sufficient  to  prove  that  dancing  is  an  elemental  phase  of  life 
and  a  justified  ingredient  in  pageantry-— especially  folk-dancing.  The  folk  dance  is  the 
spontaneous  expression  of  enjoyment  of  the  homely  life  of  a  people  and  is  always  different 
in  different  nations — never  a  dance  solely  for  art  or  for  effect,  and  does  not 
lead  to  social  delirium.  This  kind  of  dancing  has  not  prospered  in  America  notwith- 
standing the  late  popularity  of  the  "cake-walks."  Madame  Pavlova  after  touring  the 
country  inquired  if  the  turkey-trot  was  the  national  folk-dance.  The  Virginia  reel  comes 
nearest,  perhaps,  to  an  American  folk-dance  and  often  becomes  a  racy  shake  down  where 
individuality  and  high  spirits  reveal  themselves  in  many  odd  kinks  and  capers  kicked 

196 


THE  EXQUISITE  FRENCH  PAVANE  DANCED  UPON  AN  IMMENSE  CARPET  AT  QUEBEC      A  HIGH  CLOTH  SCREEN  MOUNTED 
ON  POLES  TRANSFORMED  THE  ARENA  INTO   \  TEMPORARY  INTERIOR  THRONE  ROOM. 


MERRY    SHEPHERDESSES    WITH    THEIR    CROOKS    IN    A    RUSTIC    DANCE    IN    SOUTH    CAROLINA    PAGEANT. 


C;R0UP   ok    WKi.l.    COSriMKD    CRKKK    DANCKRS   IN    PAGEANT   OF    THK    TRICK,    BOSTON. 


Dancing 

out  to  suit  the  different  temperaments.  The  various  nationalities  which  congregate  in  every 
city  and  town  have  each  a  distinctive  folk-dance — Italian  Tarantella,  Portuguese  Cham- 
arita,  Scotch  Fling,  Irish  Reel,  Polish  Mazurka,  Spanish  Fandango,  Hungarian  Csardas, 
French  Pavan,  Swedish  Fjallnaspolska.  Through  these  folk-dances  the  final  episode  of 
the  Hope  of  the  Future  is  made  alluring  to  the  foreign-bom  population.  The  Morris 
dance  in  many  variations  is  always  a  part  in  English  pageants.  The  weird  and  clumsy 
posturings  of  Indians  will  be  readily  taken  by  boys  who  scorn  the  lighter  graces  of 
civilized  dances,  A  book  by  Elizabeth  Burchenal,  giving  the  folk-dances  taught  in 
the  New  York  public  schools,  may  be  purchased  at  a  small  cost.  Other  valuable  guide 
books  are  "Esthetic  Dancing"  by  Erail  Rath,  the  "Folk  Dance  Book"  by  C.  Ward  Cramp- 
ton  M.  D.,  "Dramatic  Games  and  Dances"  by  Caroline  Crawford,  "The  Festival  book"  by 
Jeanette  E.  C.  Lincoln,  "Play  Songs"  by  Alys  E.   Bentley. 

The  interludes  between  the  acts  may  be  utilized  to  knit  the  story  together  by  beau- 
tiful sjonbolic  dancing.  For  instance,  at  a  pageant  in  Vermont  the  spirit  of  the  moun- 
tains appeared  at  the  beginning  of  the  production;  in  a  pageant  on  the  sea-coast  the 
Spirit  of  the  Sea  was  given  to  the  music  of  the  Blue  Danube  waltzes;  in  the  Old  Colony  a 
descriptive  dance  presented  the  Devil  and  the  New  England  conscience  in  mortal  strug- 
gle.   At  Deerfield  a  will-o'-the-wisp  dance  was  given  at  night  by  a  young  woman  waving  a 

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A  Handhbook  of  American  Pageantry 

wand  with  electric  light  at  the  end.  At  Medway,  Massachusetts,  a  bevy  of  girls  array- 
ed as  scarlet  cannon-crackers  gave  a  striking  patriotic  dance.  To  release  captive  toy 
balloons  in  a  dance  makes  a  happy  effect.  Much  of  the  dancing  is  barefoot,  returning  to 
the  Greek  methods — a  most  salutary,  hygienic  and  graceful  form  of  exercise  (provided 
fiendish  boys  have  not  scattered  tacks  upon  the  greensward).  With  woman  rhythm  is 
instinctive.  The  female  form  divine  in  graceful  action  supplies  the  most  delightful 
sensation  in  the  world.  The  "disturbing  sense  of  Beauty"  is  acquired  by  spontaneous 
and  instinctive  bodily  movement,  and  is  often  crushed  out  by  mechanical,  conventional 
instruction.  As  Jacques-Delcroze,  who  conducts  a  school  of  eurhythmies  at  Vienna,  sajrs: 
The  body  becomes  a  wonderful  instrument  of  beauty  and  harmony  when  it  is  trained  to 
vibrate  in  tune  with  artistic  imagination  and  collaborate  with  creative  thought. 

When  someone  asked  how  old  one  should  be  to  learn  to  dance,  Mrs.  J.  J. 
Storrow  promptly  rejoined :  "Just  the  age  you  happen  to  be."  Then  let  everybody  join 
hands  and  "dance  with  joy  upon  the  catafalque  of  yesterday." 


200 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Presentation. 

Ye  who  would  learn  the  glory  of  your  past  and  form  a  forecast  of  the  things  to  be, 
Give  heed  to  this,  a  city's  trumpet  blast,  and  see  her  pictured  life  in  pageantry. 

F.   H.  IVilliams. 

HE  day  before  the  first  performance  the  real  exhilarating  pageant 
spirit  begins  to  be  felt  in  the  air.  The  public  has  been  brought 
to  a  high  pitch  of  curiosity  by  advertising  and  the  pleasant  pre- 
liminary gossip.  The  town  is  ^?z/^/^.  The  activities  of  the  day 
of  presentation,  when  the  pageant  bursts  into  life,  like  a  gorgeous 
butterfly  from  the  chrysalis,  rival  those  of  an  ant-hill  in  midsummer;  everyone  is  hurrying 
to  and  fro;  you  meet  Governor  Bradford  in  a  sugar-loaf  hat  crossing  the  town  square; 
a  band  of  feathered  Indians  whirls  by  in  an  automobile;  Puritan  women,  daintily  dressed, 
sit  beside  you  in  trolley  cars;  Continental  minute-men  galloping  through  the  streets 
contribute  to  the  holiday  atmosphere;  even  George  Washington,  redivivus,  may  waive 
dignity  to  ride  a  bicycle  without  exciting  surprise.  The  uninitiated  will  not  be  fully  awake 
to  what  the  pageant  means  until  they  see  fellow-townsmen  transfigured  into  strange 
characters  by  showy  costumes. 


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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

It  is  a  busy  day  for  the  master.  He  must  be  in  all  places  at  once  and  yet  have  one 
headquarters.  It  is  customary  for  the  pageant  master,  during  the  production,  to  take  a 
position  at  the  top  of  the  grandstand.  A  "conning  tower"  was  erected  at  one  large  pag- 
eant— an  unsightly  object  for  spectators  to  look  upon  which  should  have  been  softened  by 
draperies  or  evergreens.  In  a  large  pageant  the  master  communicates  with  his 
various  groups  at  the  dressing  rooms  by  a  series  of  electric  bells  (producing  a  resemblance 
to  a  Western  Union  office),  and  controls  cheering,  laughter,  groans,  by  flags.  In  a  small 
pageant  he  may  stand  at  a  commanding  point,  megaphone  in  hand,  and  thus  address  the 
players.  A  clock-work  precision  is  to  be  aimed  at,  and  this  can  only  be  acquired  when 
everyone  acts  well  and  promptly  his  part.  The  machinery  must  not  break,  halt  or 
creak.    Let  nothing  come  tardy  off.    The  public  wants  movement,  action,  life,  snap. 

The  pageant  must  be  well  grouped  (having  good  composition  as  artists  term  it), 
and  must  not  be  rigid  or  too  formal,  but  fluid  and  moving.  In  laying  out  the  scheme 
of  action,  remember  that  a  varying  proportion  is  most  pleasing;  that  large  numbers 
should  be  succeeded  by  a  single  individual  holding  the  center  of  the  stage.  Mass 
movements  are  especially  telling.  A  well-articulated  pageant  has  diversity  of  movement 
in  which  the  component  acts  and  episodes,  must  be  united  by  the  invisible  strands 
of  imagination.     Effect  by  contrast  should  be  aimed  at,  leaving  the  rough  edges  to 

202 


PAGEANT    ON 


A    "FLOATING    ISLAND"    AT    LAKE    CHAMPLAIN.    THE    ISLAND    WAS    MADE    OF    A    SUPERSTRUCTURE    UPON 
CANAL  BOATS  AND  WAS  TOWED  TO  VARIOUS    POINTS    ALONG  THE    SHORE. 


SHEEP  ADDED  TO  THE  PASTORAL  BEAUIV  OK  THE  GREEK  PAGEANT,  AT  NASH\TLLE.  TENNESSEE. 


DELIGHTFULLY    Et-FEfTIVE   DANCE  WITH  GARLANDS  OF   LAI  RKL   LEAVES   AND   BOLD,   SIMPLE   DRAPERIES. 


Presentation 

be  smoothed  over  in  the  minds  of  the  audience  by  interludes,  usually  symbolic,  bridg- 
ing the  change  of  properties  and  costumes.  The  bones  and  muscles  may  be  visible,  and 
this  supplies  the  feeling  of  vigor  and  vital  permanence.  In  regard  to  the  number  of 
episodes,  these  run  from  three  to  eight  or  ten,  and  may  vary  in  length  from  ten  to  thirty 
minutes.  A  five  minute  prologue,  five  episodes  of  about  twenty  minutes  each  and  four 
interludes  will  allow,  with  slight  delays,  for  a  two-and-a-half  hours'  entertainment. 

There  should  be  at  least  one  full  dress  rehearsal  and  preferably  two  upon  the  arena. 
Other  rehearsals  in  small  groups  should  precede  the  final  one,  and  at  these  rehearsals, 
music  may  be  supplied  by  a  violin  or  a  decrepit  piano  placed  under  a  temporary  shed 
for  this  purpose.  Performers  should,  of  course,  remember  to  face  the  main  audience 
as  much  as  possible.  An  emergency  tent  in  charge  of  Red  Cross  nurses  is  important. 
At  one  pageant  when  the  temperature  was  one  hundred  and  ten  degrees  boy  scouts 
were  kept  running  with  pails  of  ice-water  to  keep  players  from  swooning. 

The  best  pageant  begins  "doubtfully  and  far  away"— with  the  stately  presence  of 
Father  Time  chantmg  a  hymn;  or  the  spirit  of  Prophecy;  or  with  a  symbolic  or  fairy 
dance  by  the  spirits  of  nature  which  precede  man's  occupation  of  the  earth — mountains, 
brooks,  rivers,  trees,  and  birds  in  communion;  sometimes  a  pageant  opens  with  a  whoop, 
a  war-whoop  by  a  band  of  Indians  rushing  in  from  several  points;  or  with  a  crash  of 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

orchestral  instruments  or  an  opening  processional  chorus,  especially  for  a  Greek  pageant. 

All  the  incidents  culminate  in  the  grand  final  tableau  which  is  currently 
styled  the  Grand  Walk  Around,  or  March  Past, — when  all  the  various  players,  with 
the  portable  properties,  appear  in  a  gorgeous  labyi'inthine  cavalcade,  but  not  so  chaotically 
that  they  may  not  disperse  in  the  utmost  order. 

In  the  very  hour  of  triumph  the  pageant-master's  cup  of  happiness  may  slop  over. 
Suppose  that  a  cunning  and  adventurous  suffragette,  astraddle  a  horse,  having  body 
guard  of  Indians  with  scalping  knives,  and  as  rear-guard,  an  automobile  bedecked  with 
the  inspiring  banner,  "Votes  for  Women,"  should  suddenly  appear  upon  the  scene  and 
insist  upon  a  place  in  the  grand  final  procession.  The  pageant-master  frantically  shouts 
through  a  megaphone,  "Away  with  'em" ;  stage  directors  behind  the  scenes  endeavor  to  re- 
strain the  interlopers;  the  suffragettes  strenuously  insist  upon  carrying  out  their  coup;  the 
audience  begins  to  giggle;— to  lean  once  more  on  Shakespeare: 

This  wide  and  universal  theatre 

Presents  more  woeful  pageants  than  the  scene 

Wherein  we  play  in. 

/4s    You  Like  It. 


206 


EXTRACTS  FROM  LIBRETTOS. 


PAGEANT  OF  OSHKOSH,  WISCONSIN. 
Episode  IV. 

The  Coming  of  the  Missionaries. 
(The  Dominant  Note  of  this  Episode  is  Religion.) 

In  the  fourth  episode  is  depicted  the  coming  in  1670  of  the  first  missionary,  Father  Allouez, 
to  the  Indians  of  hske  Winnebago  and  the  Upper  Fox.  This  zealous  missionary  attempts  to  give  these 
savages  an  idea  of  the  true  God.  The  most  of  them  show  how  grotesque  and  even  ludicrous  is  their 
conception  of  what  he  says,  but  here  and  there  one  seems  to  catch  the  spirit  of  it,  if  not  the  understand- 
ing. Allouez  shows  them  a  picture  of  the  "UniversalJudgment,"  and  takes  occasion  to  describe  to  them 
something  of  the  torments  of  the  damned  and  the  happiness  of  the  saints. 
Allouez  {to  the  Chief):    Oh  my  Brother,  I  come  to  bring  you  tidings  of  great  joy.     I  come  to  tell  you 

of  the  greatest  of  all  Manitous — the  ruler  of  heaven  and  earth. 
The  Chief:  We  welcome  thee,  0  Black  Gown.  It  is  well  thou  comest  to  visit  us.  The  Sioux  and  the 
Iroquois  are  eating  us  up.  Take  pity  on  us.  Take  pity  on  us!  We  are  often  ill.  Our  children  are 
dying.  We  are  hungry.  Hear  Me!  I  give  thee  tobacco  to  smoke.  0  Manitou,  let  the  earth  give  us 
com  {All  the  old  men  utter  aloud,  "Oh!"),  and  the  river  yield  us  fish.  {"Oh'").  Let  not  desire  kill 
us  any  more  nor  famine  treat  us  any  longer  hardly.  {"Oh!").  Hear  us,  Manitou! 
Allouez:  0  my  Brothers  of  the  Forest,  I  am  not  the  Manitou  who  is  the  master  of  your  lives.  I  obey 
the  Greatest  Master  and  bear  His  word  to  all  the  earth.  Your  vows  must  not  be  made  to  me.  Make 
them  to  the  only  and  the  true  God.  He  is  the  sole  master  of  all  things.  I  am  only  His  messenger, 
but  wise  men  nevertheless  willingly  listen  and  obey  the  Black  Gown,  who  is  heard  by  the  great 
God  and  is  his  interpreter. 

208 


GOV.   HUTCHINSON   AT  PARTY    IN   PAGEANT  AT  MILTON,   MASSACHUSETTS,        BY   JOSEPH   LINDENSMITH.      THE  STAGE 

COACH  AND  FOUR  ADD  STATELINESS  AND  DIGNITY. 


RRflAKI)   U  A  I. LACK   I-INI5S    MIS 


LOST  Will;, 
A    HAPPV 


rAuivwr  Ai    riii.noKD.  \lkmum,  on 

DOMliSTIC    TRADITION     PACKANTIZKO. 


UANKb  or   CONNLCTlC'Ll'   RIVKR. 


Extracts  from  Librettos 

Chief:  We  thank  thee,  0  Black  Gown,  for  coming  to  console  us  in  our  affliction.  We  are  the  more 
obliged  to  thee  inasmuch  as  no  one  hitherto  hath  shown  to  us  that  kindness.  Do  thou,  0  Black  Gown, 
who  are  not  dispirited  and  who  taketh  pity  on  people,  take  pity  on  us  as  thou  shalt  deem  best. 

Allouez:  It  is  only  from  the  Great  Spirit  of  all  Spirits  that  what  you  ask  can  be  obtained.  This 
and  infinitely  more  shall  be  yours  if  you  love  and  obey  Him.  He  for  love  of  us  all  was  nailed  to  the 
cruel  cross. 

An  Elder:  Will  your  God  for  love  of  us  keep  the  little  papoose  from  crying  with  hunger?  Will  He 
make  our  young  men  strong?  Will  He  save  us  from  our  hated  enemies?  (  He  turns  and  looks  jrom  the 
men  to  the  cross  and  speaks  scornfully.)  The  strong  winds  of  the  air  will  break  that  to  pieces  on  the 
hard  earth.  What  will  your  God  do  then?  What  of  Him  if  the  lightning  burns  this  to  ashes?  Or 
the  thunder-bolt  from  the  skies  shivers  it  to  pieces?   Or  the  snows  of  the  cold,  cold  winter  cover  it 

deep? 

Allouez:  Even  so.  Even  so.  But  neither  the  lightning  not  the  thunder-bolt,  neither  the  fierce  wind 
nor  the  freezing  snow  can  destroy  the  love  of  God,  which  shall  be  buried  deep  in  your  hearts.  Be 
patient,  for  the  days  in  this  land  where  you  suffer  will  be  short,  but  the  days  in  the  land  beyond 
will  be  without  end.  Learn  to  love  the  Great  Master,  and  peace  and  plenty  shall  be  yours  in  that  far 
away  land. 

Young  Indian  {in  an  aside  to  a  dog  which  has  followed  the  Frenchman).  Tell  me,  O  Captain's  dog,  what 
is  the  state  of  affairs  among  our  enemies.  Thy  master  hath  told  thee.  Thou  hast  followed  him  every- 
where. Do  not  conceal  the  matter  from  me,  for  I  dare  not  ask  your  master. 

Allouez:  Look  upon  this  picture  which  tells  of  that  time  when  the  small  and  the  great— the  chief 
and  the  child— shall  stand  before  his  God.  On  that  last  day  there  shall  be  thunder  and  lightning,  the 
heavens  as  a  scroll  shall  be  rolled  together,  and  every  island  and  mountain  shall  be  removed  out  of  its 
place.  Unto  the  wicked  a  loud  voice  shall  cry  as  a  roaring  lion,  "Woe!  Woe!  Woe!"  And  the  smoke 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

of  the  tormentor  shall  ascend  forever.  But  if  you  love  the  Great  Master  you  shall  live  with  Him 
in  perfect  peace.  In  that  land  there  shall  be  no  cruel  enemies  to  harass,  and  you  shall  eat  of  the  tree 
of  life,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  Paradise. 

Chief:  Oh,  have  pity  on  us!  Stay  with  us  and  keep  us  from  the  fire  that  never  goes  out.  Thou  couldst 
dwell  here  to  protect  us  from  our  enemies  and  teach  us  how  to  speak  to  your  God. 

Allouez:  My  dear  brothers  of  wood  and  stream,  what  your  chief  says  I  much  approve;  and  when  the 
red  leaves  fall  to  the  brown  earth,  I  shall  give  you  my  answer.  In  the  meantime,  before  this  cross 
at  sunrise  and  sunset  let  your  pleadings  rise  like  sweet  incense  to  the  Great  Master  of  all.  {An  old 
Indian  immediately  offers  the  incense  of  his  tribe — tobacco.  He  takes  a  handful  or  two  of  powdered 
tobacco  and  pours  it  over  the  cross  and  over  Allouez.  Father  Allouez  falls  on  his  knees  before  a  cross 
and  a  few  of  the  Indians  imitate  him.  After  a  silent  prayer,  Father  Allouez  lising,  recedes  from  the  scene, 
holding  in  his  hand  a  crucifix.    As  he  slowly  steps  backward  he  repeats  the  following:) 

Allouez:         "Peace  be  with  you 

Peace  be  with  you  and  your  people, 
Peace  of  prayer  and  peace  of  pardon. 
Peace  of  Christ  and  joy  of  Mary." 


212 


COLUMBUS  PAGEANT  AT  JOHNSON,  VERMONT. 
EPISODE  I. 

Columbus  at  Play, 

Characters: 

Christopher  Columbus,  a  little  boy. 

Bartholomew,  brother  to  Christopher. 

Marco,  ^ 

Beatrice,  V  playmates  to  Christopher. 

Catherine,        ' 

Setting.    Columbus  and  playmates  on  the  seashore  at  Genoa,  watching  a  departing  ship. 

Christopher   (Admiringly):    There  she  goes!  Isn't  she  a  gallant  ship?   How  smoothly  and  swiftly  she 

glides  along!  Some  day  I  will  have  a  ship  of  my  own  and  sail  to  distant  lands. 
Bartholomew  (Wonderingly) :    But  father  wants  you  to  learn  how  to  comb  wool. 
Columbus  (Impatiently):    I  can't  help  it  if  my  father  is  a  wool-comber  and  every  one  expects  me  to 

follow  in  his  tracks — I  want  to  be  a  sailor! 
Children  (In  amazement):    A  sailor! 
Columbus:    Yes,  a  sailor!   One  of  the  brave,  daring  sort! 
Boys  (With  great  enthusiasm) :    Yes,  brave  and  daring. 

Columbus:    But  I  wouldn't  go  the  old  way  all  the  time;  I'd  do  something  different. 
Beatrice:     0  Chris,  I  get  tired  of  talking  about  big  taings.  Let's  play  house. 
Girls  (Clapping  hands):    That's  always  fun! 
Bartholomew:    Boys  don't  like  to  play  house. 

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A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

Boys  (In  disgust) :     Of  course  we  don't. 

Bartholomew  (Looking  admiringly  at  Chris):  I'd  like  to  be  a  sailor  myself,  but  I  never  could  be  one- 
half  as  brave  as  Chris. 

Marco:    No,  nor  think  of  half  so  many  things  to  say.  He  makes  you  feel  wild  and  desperate. 

Catherine:    You  think  Chris  is  a  wonder. 

Girls  (In  disgust):    A  perfect  wonder! 

Marco  (Sneeringly) :     Girls  can't  like  anything  but  dolls. 

Boys  (Chanting):    Just  dolls,  dolls,  dolls! 

Christopher:    Oh,  come!  Let's  not  have  a  quarrel.  I  have  a  great  idea! 

J II:    Hurrah!  Let's!  ear  it! 

Beatrice:    Chris  always  has  such  good  ideas. 

Catherine:    He  always  thinks  of  something  new. 

Jll:    Something  new!   A  treat! 

Christopher:    Well,  here  we  have  it:  you  girls  are  to  keep  house. 

Girls  (Dancing  around  stage):    Good!  Good!  Good! 

Bartholomew  (Sullenly):     I  don't  see  as  that  will  interest  me  much. 

Marco:    Or  me!   (Boys  walk  about  with  heads  down.) 

Christopher:    I  guess  you've  forgotten  what  the  master  said,   "Girls  before  boys." 

Boys  (Coming  back):    Oh,  go  on!    Go  on! 

Girls  (Clapping  their  hands):   Good!  Good! 

Christopher:    I'll  take  the  boys  who  have  some  courage  and — (Boys  interrupting.)    I  have!   I  have! 

Christopher:  But  before  we  make  more  plans,  we  must  have  a  map.  Come  here  on  the  sand.  It  will 
be  done  in  a  minute.   (All  gather  around  Chris  on  the  sand.) 

Bartholomew:    You  remember  what  father  told  us  last  night,  don't  you,  Chris .^ 

214 


THE    HEADLESS    HORSEMAN     IN    HUDSON-FULTON    PAGEANT.     LOCAL    LEGENDS    MAY    BE    CLEVERLY    PAGEANTIZED. 


VIMA  INDIANS    IN     IHK    CI.ARI-.MONT    FACKAN  l..    Sor  111  KRN    CAI.IH)RNI\.    Ai'l'l-  \  !<!■  I)    IN     l'RIMHi\K    UI-SH  AliU.l.i:. 


Extracts  from  Librettos 

Christopher:     Yes,  he  said  Toscanelli  was  almost  sure  the  earth  was  round. 

All  (In  great  surprise) :    Round  ? 

Christopher:    Yes,  round  like  a  ball.    That's  the  way  we'll  make  our  map,  as  though  the  earth  was 

round.   Here's  Genoa,  right  here.   (Points  with  stick.)   Now,  if  we  should  sail  straight  to  the  west, 

out  across  the  "Sea  of  Darkness" — 
All  (In  terror):    But  the  monsters! 
Christopher  (Looking  wise) :    We  are  to  have  courage  and  forget  these  fairy  tales.  They're  for  children 

to  believe. 
Beatrice:    Yes,  and  if  we  look  on  this  map  you're  making,  we'll  know  just  where  you  are  all  the  time. 
Bartholomew:     I  can  almost  feel  the  ship  go  up  and  down. 
Marco:     I  believe  I  can,  too. 
Christopher:     I  feel  sure,  if  we  sail  long  enough,  we  shall  come  to  Asia.  {Moves  about  with  many  gestures 

as  he  speaks.)     The  "Sea  of  Darkness"  will  be  the  "Sea  of  Brightness"  then;  and  the  big  folks  will 

say,  "Little  heads;  big  wit."  How  fine  you  girls  will  feel  when  we  bring  home  all  those  good  things. 
Girls:    We  will!    We  will! 
Beatrice  (Enthusiastically):    I  knew  this  was  to  be  the  best  game  of  all.    Let's  give  three  cheers  for 

Chris;  then  we'll  get  ready  to  go  down  to  the  ships  and  say  good-by  to  the  boys. 
Catherine:    Now  for  the  cheers!  I  always  count— one,  two,  three,  ready! 
All    (Take  hold  of  hands  and  shout):  Hurrah!  Hurrah!  Hurrah! 

{Run  off  to  ships.) 


217 


PAGEANT  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 
EPISODE  II. 

Return  of  the  Tea  Ship  "Polly". 
Cast  of  Characters. 

Thonnas  Willing,  John  Dickinson,  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  Robert  Morris,  William  Bradford,  Thomas 
Mifflin,  Charles  Thomson,  Provost  William  Smith,  George  Clymer,  Joseph  Reed,  Samuel  Powel, 
Tohn  Nixon,  Thomas  Fitzsimmons,  Citizens. 
Elizabeth  Drinker,  Lydia  Darragh,  Martha  James,  Mary  Pemberton,  Margaret  Morris,  Rebecca 
James,  a  young  girl,  Thomas  Wharton,  Abel  James,  Deborah  Franklin,  Sarah  Franklin  Bache, 
Captain  Ayres,  of  the  tea  ship  Polly,  Pickle  Herring,  a  clown,  and  other  Fair  Day  characters.  A 
crowd  numbering  about  300  persons. 

CHORUS 
Behold !  the  sun  is  mounting  to  his  noon : 

The  city  grows  apace; 
Yet  Peace  begins  to  pale  and  all  too  soon 

Shall  veil  her  radiant  face, — 
Shall  veil  for  weary  years  her  radiant  face. 
The  arena  represents  the  market  place  at  the  time  of  the  Autumn  Fair — October,  1773.  A  pack  train 
and  some  cows  with  bells  are  seen.  In  the  foreground  Fair-day  stalls  and  a  mob  which  comes  in  in  parties 
from  both  sides  of  the  field,  and  in  which  may  be  seen  types  of  citizens  both  rich  and  poor! — beaux  and  belles 
on  horseback;  German  country  girls  on  horses  with  panniers;  Indians  dancing  and  capering;  paupers, 
Fair-day  characters,  a  clown  {Pickle  Herring,  well  known  at  the  time  in  the  colonies),  gingerbread  men, 
piemen,  Punch-and-Judy  showmen,,  some  British  soldiers  of  the  Royal  Irish  Regiment  (18/A)  from  the 
Barracks,  Quakers,  etc. 

218 


Extracts  from  Librettos 

Charles  Thomson.  (To  Bradford):    It  seems  that  our  Dr.  Franklin  is  making  but  little  progress  in  re- 
gard to  our  weighty  matters  in  England. 
Bradford:    From  the  news  I  had  but  now  at  the  Coffee  House,  I  well  believe  that  his  success  hath 

been  but  middling. 
Rush:    Thou  meanest  about  the  detestable  tea  scheme.    The  drink  made  from  that  East  Indian 

weed  is  assuredly  not  often  seen  in  this  part  of  the  King's  dominion.    I  commend  to  my  patients, 

mother  of  thyme  with  a  little  hyssop  or  some  peppermint  and  yarrow.  They  brew  as  well. 
"Tea,  how  I  tremble  at  the  baneful  name. 
Like  Lethe,  fatal  to  the  love  of  fame." 
Morris  (coming  up):    The  affair  is  no  subject  for  jest  and  it's  like  to  come  to  a  bitter  end.    I  hear 

the  ministry  hath  allowed  the  East  India  Company^  to  despatch  several  cargoes  of  tea  hither  on 

which  the  tax  is  to  be  paid. 
Thomson:    That  it  will  not  be,  if  my  ears  make  correct  report. 
Mifflin:    What  hast  thou  heard? 
Thomson:    That  the  tea  is  to  be  sent  back  to  England  whence  it  comes.   It  shall  get  no  landing  here. 

The  Whartons  and  Abel  James  have  promised  not  to  receive  it.  The  Delaware  pilots  are  threatened 

if  they  bring  up  the  ship. 
Dickinson:     I  trust  all  may  be  done  without  violence. 
Willing:    Yet  must  we  keep  our  dignity,  come  what  may.    The  tea  may  follow  the  stamps,  say  I. 

Taxation  without  representation  I  hold  in  abhorrence. 
Morris:     It  is  not  to  be  thought  on.    The  resolutions  passed  at  the  meeting  in  the  State  House  yard 

were  definite  enough.  The  action  of  the  ministry  is  a  violent  attack  upon  the  liberties  of  America. 
Pickle   Herring  (with  a  shrub  labeled  "Tea"  which  he  sets  down  and  addresses) :     Thou  accursed 

China  herb! 

219 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

"How  might  we  blush  if  our  sires  could  see 
Our  rights  invaded  by  this  shrub  Bohea." 
Bohea  tea!  See! 
A  party  oj  sailors  come  rollicking  along,  one  or  two  seeming  slightly  tipsy.    They  shout  "We  never 
drink  tea,"  and  sing  as  they  pass  on: 

"Here's  to  the  wind  that  blows 
To  the  ship  that  goes, 
And  to  the  lass  that  loves  a  sailor." 
A  citizen  in  a  chaise  draws  near  and  calls  for  more  toasts.    He  suggests  one: 
"May  Great  Britain  always  be  just  and  America  always  be  free."  {Loud  huzzas.) 
A  Sailor  (tipsy);     Liberty  to  mankind!   (All  laugh.) 

A  Citizen:    Here's  to  Paoli!   May  the  glorious  spirit  of  Corsica  animate  America  to  the  latest  poster- 
ity. 

Abel  James,  one  of  the  Quaker  merchants  to  whom  the  tea  is  consigned,  becomes  the  center  of  interest 
in  the  crowd.       He  promises  that  he  will  not  receive  his  part  of  the  cargo  and  offers  his  little  daughter  stand- 
ing on  a  hogshead  as  a  pledge  of  his  good  faith.   There  is  a  commotion  in  the  crowd  at  right,  as  an  Express 
comes  in  breathless. 
Express:    Hear  ye  all!    Captain  Ayres  in  the  tea  ship  Polly  hath  just  cast  anchor  in  the  Delaware! 

Great  excitement  among  the  people. 
A  Voice:    We'll  tar  and  feather  him  and  funnel  his  rotten  tea  down  his  throat. 
Many  Voices:    Ay,  ay!   And  the  quicker  the  better. 
Voices:    Tar  and  feathers!   Tar  and  feathers! 

A  kettle  of  tar  and  an  old  feather  bed  are  brought  on  the  scene,  and  a  procession  is  formed  marching 
to  the  music  of  a  fife. 

220 


A    FETE    CHAMPETRE    OF    EIGHT   THOUSAND    GIRLS    ON    THE    SHEEP    MEADOW    IN    CENTRAL    PARK.,    NEW    YORK. 

DIRECTED  BY  MISS  ELIZABETH  BURCHENAL, 


TllK    liOV    FRWKI.IX    WITH  HIS   KITE    AND    THE    FORTUNE  TEI.I.KR    1  ORF.CAS  1  l.NU    HIS    FUTLRE    GEN-IfS. 

AT  BROOKLYN,  BY  MISS  CONSTANCE   D'ARCY  MacKAY. 


PAGEANT 


Extracts  from  Librettos 

D{ckinso7i  (coming  up  hastily):    Peace!  Peace!  Let  us  act  orderly  that  our  cause  be  not  jeopardized. 

I  pray  ya  use  no  violence. 
Voices:    Here  he  comes!    Here  he  comes!    Let's  teach  the  villain  a  lesson! 
Dickinson:    Peace!   Peace!     No   violence. 

Captain  Ayres  comes  in  through  a  lane  of  people.  Some  boys  hustle  him  but  show  no  further  in- 
dignity, being  restrained  by    Dickinson,  Willing,  Mifflin  and  other  leading  citizens. 

A  committee  of  four  wait  upon  him  and  inform  him  concerning  the  temper  of  the  people,  whereupon 
he  agrees  to  depart,  at  which  there  is  much  huzzahing.  A  mob  which  is  formed  carrying  a  large  sign  rudely 
painted,  "No  taxation  without  representation,"  sings: 

"Captain  once  more  hoist  our  streamers 

Spread  your  sails  and  plow  the  wave! 
Tell  your  masters  they  were  dreamers, 
When  they  thought  to  cheat  the  Brave." 
The  crowd  again  surges  out,  the  British  troops  being  somewhat  hustled  but  preserving  good  temper. 
The  roistering  sailors  pass  across  the  arena  singing: 

"Here's  to  the  wind  that  blows, 

To  the  ship  that  goes, 
And  to  the  lass  that  loves  a  sailor." 
As  the  crowd  moves  from  the  field,    the  Chorus  sings  a  song  of  the  time  in  Philadelphia,  written 
by  John  Dickinson  and  sung  to  the  tune  of  "Hearts  of  Oak." 

"Our  worthy  forefathers,  let's  give  them  a  cheer. 
To  climates  unknown  did  courageously  steer. 
Through  oceans  and  deserts  for  freedom  they  came 
And  dying  bequeathed  us  their  freedom  and  fame. 

223 


THE  PAGEANT  AT  THETFORD. 

EPISODE  IX. 

The   Rural  Problem. 

(Played  by  the  People  of  Thetford  Hill.) 

{Enter  from  the  northwest  George  Edwards  and  his  son  Joe;  Joe  is  driving  a  load  of  hay,  standing 
on  the  load;  his  father  comes  alongside  and  pitches  a  forkful  of  hay  onto  the  load.) 
George  Edwards:     That's  the  last! 
Joe  Edwards:    (Receiving  the  hay,  placing  it,  and  then  throwing  his  own  fork  into  the  hay.)   It's  my 

last,  anyhow. 
George  Edwards:    What  do  you  mean? 
Joe  Edwards:    I've  told  you,  many  a  time.   I'm  going. 
George  Edwards:     Why? 
Joe  Edwards:    You  know  as  well  as  I  do.    I  want  to  try  new  methods  of  farming  to  get  out  of  this 

land  all  there  is  in  it.  You  won't.  You  just  make  fun  of  it — and  me. 
George  Edwards:    Ain't  you  going  to  give  them  notions  up? 
Joe  Edwards:    They're  not  notions.  It's  no  use,  as  it  is  now.  You're  just  getting  a  bare  living  out  of 

this  farm. 
George  Edwards:    Well,  what  more  do  you  need  ?  A  living's  not  the  easiest  thing  to  get  these  days,  and 

I've  done  it  right  here  for  a  good  many  years,  steady.  And  I  know  them  right  here  in  this  town  that 

are  not  doing  that.  The  land  of  this  whole  region  is  worked  out — that's  the  truth  of  it. 
Joe  Edwards:    Worked  out?  Nothing  of  the  sort.  For  all  we've  been  getting  out  of  it,  this  land's  been 

mostly  lying  fallow  for  the  past — don't  know  how  many  years. 

224 


Extracts  from  Librettos 

George  Edwards:    Fallow!  Hm!   I've  worked  it  pretty  hard,  I  know  that. 

Joe  Edwards:  We  don't  know  what  the  land's  best  fitted  for,  or  how  to  handle  it  to  get  the  best  out  of 
it,  that's  what's  the  matter.  We're  behind  the  times. 

George  Edwards:  Oh,  of  course.  Your  father  don't  know  anything.  (Pause.)  That's  one  of  the  notions 
you've  picked  up  from  those  Burlington  fellows.  What  do  they  know  about  my  farm?  I've  been  work- 
ing it  now  twenty  years,  lived  on  it  all  my  life  and  my  father  before  me.  I  guess  I  know  this  farm 
better  than  any  young  man  that  does  his  farming  in  books  and  fusses  around  in  a  hot-house  over  in 
Burlington,  other  side  of  the  state.   Fallow!   Hm!  That's  where  you  got  that  idee! 

Joe  Edwards:  Its'  not,  either.  I  heard  Dr.  Whitney  say  that  down  in  New  York  and  he's  the  head 
of  the  Bureau  of  Soils  at  Washington. 

George  Edwards:  Bah!  About  as  good!  See  here,  my  boy,  I  know  this  farm  about  as  well  as  I  know 
you,  and  I  want  you  should  learn  one  thing:  If  you're  going  to  get  along  in  this  world  and  not  get 
ploughed  under,  you've  got  to  stick  to  facts. 

Joe  Edwards:  I  am  sticking  to  facts.  But  there  are  a  whole  lot  more  facts  about  this  farm  that  we  can 
find  out  for  ourselves,  and  we  ought  to  find  out  what  they  are. 

{Silence;  a  bit  sullen  on    Joe's  part,  and  the  silence  of  superior  wisdom  on  his  father  s  part.    Joe 

climbs  down  from  the  top  of  the  load  and  they  feed  the  oxen.) 

Joe  Edwards:     I  intend  when  I'm  done  with  this  farm  to  have  a  good  sum  of  money  out  of  it. 

George  Edwards:     Going  to  get  rich,  eh  ? 

Joe  Edwards :    And  leave  it  a  richer,  more  profitable  farm  than  it  ever  was  before. 

George   Edwards:     Hm! 

Joe  Edwards:    I  want  my  family  to  know  what's  going  on  in  the  country — 

George  Edwards:    They  can  read  the  magazines,  like  we  do.   There's  nothing  new  in  that. 

Joe  Edwards:    And  take  part  in  the  big  movements  that  are  going  on,  if  they  take  a  fancy  to— and  can. 

225 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

George  Edwards :    Fancy!  That's  just  about  it.  Joe,  if  you  and  your  family  are  going  to  do  all  this  that 

you've  laid  out — get  rich  and  all  that — you'll  have  to  get  up  a  good  deal  earlier  than  you  do  now 

and  go  to  bed  a  good  deal  later. 
Joe  Edwards:    I  get  up  as  early  as  any  one.  You  needn't  say  that. 

George  Edwards:    I'm  not  saying  as  you  don't.  But  we're  not  trying  to  do  all  that  at  present. 
Joe    Edwards:     Hm! 
George  Edwards:    Joe,  it  seems  like  to  me  you  don't  think  your  bringing  up  has  been  good  enough  for 

you,  quite.  Now  I  can  tell  you  that  your  mother.  .  .  . 

{Enter  Mrs.  Edwards  with  a  jug  of  milk.     Neither  has  noticed  her  approach.) 
Mrs.  Edwards:    What  are  you  two  threshing  out  now?  (Both  are  silent  a  moment.) 
George  Edwards:    Joe  thinks  this  farm  isn't  good  enough  for  him. 
Joe  Edwards:     It's  not  so.  I  believe  in  this  farm  a  good  deal  more  than  you  do. 
Mrs.  Edwards:     Joe!  Joe! 
George  Edwards:    Well,  he  says  he's  going  away, — going  to  the  city  to  learn  farming,  and  a  whole  lot 

of  new-fangled  things  his  father  managed  to  make  a  living  without. 
Mrs.  Edwards:    Why  do  you  get  talking  about  these  things.?    You  don't  agree  on  them  and   you 

never  will. 
Joe  Edwards:  Father  thinks  I  am  just  a  conceited — I  want  him  to  understand  that  I — You  understand, 

Mother.    You  know  that  it's  because  I  care,  that  I — 
Mrs.  Edzvards:    Yes,  Joe,  I  know.   You  love  your  father  and  he  loves  you;  that's  why  he  don't  want 

you  should  make  any  mistakes.   You've  got  to  go  your  own  way  more  or  less,  just  like  he  did;  but 

the  city's  no  place  for  a  young  man.  If  you  went  to  New  York  or  Boston,  I  should  be  worrying  about 

you  every  minute  until  I  had  you  back  safe  again. 
Joe  Edwards  (putting  his  arm  around  his  mother) :   But  that's  absurd,  mother.   I  should  get  along  all 

226 


>        >  s 


A  SL'UDEN  SHOV\ER  IS  ONK  OF  THE  HAZARDS  OF  PAGEANTRY.      CIVILIZATION  RAISES  AN   UMBRELLA.      THE  ABORIGINE  IS 

'BIGGER  THAN  WEATHE.1." 


r.  -o 
■  7. 


9x 
y. 


/:  o 

<  a, 

a  O 

-  X 


y  J 
n  y~ 


Extracts  from  Librettos 

right.  I  know  how  to  work  hard.  I  can  make  my  way. 
Mrs.  Edwards:    Well,  maybe  you  would.  I  hope  so. 
Joe  Edwards:    Others  have.   I  can  do  what  others  have  done. 
George  Edwards:    (going  to  see  about  oxen  and  their  feed):    It  costs  more  to  live  in  the  city,  and  it's 

not  easy  to  get  a  job  down  there  as  soon  as  you  get  off  the  train.   We  have  not  the  money  to  keep 

you  going  down  there  long. 
Mrs.  Edwards:    You  are  our  only  child,  Joe,  and  we've  always  done  everything  for  you  we  could — 
Joe  Edwards:    I  know  you  have,  mother. 
Mrs.  Edwards:    And  planned  everything  the  best  we  knew  how  for  you,  to  leave  the  farm  to  you 

just  as  your  father  got  it.    He  has  always  said  he  would  not  sell  an  acre  of  it,  because  he  said  he 

wanted  you  should  get  the  whole  farm,  the  old  family  homestead,  just  as  it  has  always  been  in  the 

family.    And  sometimes  it  has  been  pretty  hard. 
Joe  Edwards:    I  know,  mother,  you  and  father  could  not  have  done  anj^hing  more  than  you  have 

for  me.  And  I  want  to  make  the  most  of  it  I  can. 

(Joe  puts  his  arm  around  his  mother  and  kisses  her;  George  comes  up  and  puts  his  hand  on  Joe's 
shoulder.) 
George  Edwards:    You  are  a  good  boy,  a  good  son,  Joe;  and  you  always  have  been.  Here,  Joe, — here's 

the  whole  farm  that's  going  to  be  yours  some  day.  You  are  keeping  company  with  the  school-teacher. 

She's  a  fine  girl;  we  like  her.  I'll  set  you  up  right  now;  stay  at  home. 
Joe  Edwards:    Thank  you,  father.    But  there  is  not  enough  in  the  farm  for  all  of  us  the  way  we  are 

working  it  now.  It  will  not  take  care  of  two  houses.  You  know  it  won't. 
Mrs.  Edwards:    What's  to  hinder  you  living  right  on  with  us?  We'll  be  glad  to  have  Lettie. 
Joe  Edwards:    It's  new  ways  of  working  the  farm  we  need,  mother.  We  could  never  get  ahead  if  I  did 

that.  I  must  go  and  learn  how  first.  I  must  learn  a  way  to  get  ahead  a  bit  in  money. 

229 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

George  Edwards:    Same  as  Luke  Harding. 

Mrs.  Edwards:    Don't,  George.  Don't  go  away,  Joe!      We  don't  want  you  to  get  into  any  trouble, 

or  run  the  risk  of  it.  We  love  you,  Joe,  and  we  want  to  do  for  you. 
Joe  Edwards:    Oh,  I'm  not  going  to  get  into  any  trouble. 
George  Edwards:    Neither  was  Luke.    No,  he  was  going  to  make  a  fortune  in  New  York.    Some  one 

else  made  the  fortune, — all  Luke  had  of  it.  He  had  a  try  at  the  bread  line.  Learned  to  drink,  that's 

about  all  he  learned.  Joe,  we  don't  want  you  should  turn  out  like  him, — just  as  you  are  starting  out 

to  be  a  man  and  a  credit  to  us.  Going  that  way,  you  can't  succeed,  Joe. 
Joe  Edwards:    Well,  if  you  think  I  am  no  better  than  Luke  Harding, — if  you  think  I  am  that  sort — 
(  He  flings  off,  goiiig  up  the  field.    Enter  from  the    northeast   Lettie  Davis,  the  school-teacher,  with 
a  number  of  little  children,  dancing  about  her  and  crying  out,  "School's  out!  School's  out!"  One  little  girl  runs 
up  and  takes  her  hand  and  walks  along  with  her  teacher.) 
Lettie  Davis  (seeing  Joe  going  off  up  the  field)  .•     Oh  Joe! 

(Joe  turns  and  comes  back  down  to  meet  her  without  saying  anything.    Lettie  sends  the  little  girl  on 
ahead;  the  children  go  out.) 
Lettie  Davis:    What's  the  matter,  Joe? 

Joe  Edwards:    The  same  old  thing — only  Father  says  that  if  I  will  stay  he  will  set  me  up  right  off — 
Lettie  Davis  (eagerly):     Does  he? 

Joe  Edwards:    There  is  not  enough  in  the  farm  for  all  of  us  the  way  it  is  run  now. 
Lettie  Davis:    But  you  would  do  so  much  with  it.    You  are  younger  than  your  father.    I  know  what 

you  could  do.   I  am  not  afraid  to  trust  to  you. 
Joe  Edwards:     It  isn't  a  matter  of  working  hard.   When  Father  was  my  age,  all  his  future  lay  right 

here  in  Thetford.   Now  it's  different.   Business  is  a  good  half  of  farming  now  and  business  is  spread 

over  the  whole  country.  I  must  make  my  living — our  living — not  as  a  Thetford  farmer  raising  crops 

230 


Extracts  from  Librettos 

for  my  own  use  or  the  local  market  but  as  an  American  farmer  raising  crops  for  the  general  market, 
wherever  it  is.  Business  has  become  everything,  because  business  men  have  got  together.  Farmers 
must  get  together,  and  I  must  learn  how  to  do  things  that  way. 

Lettie  Davis:    All  right.    Why  not  begin  at  home,  Joe? 

Joe  Edwards:  What's  the  use?  No  one  here  would  listen  to  me?  And  why  should  they?  No  more  will 
they  take  the  lead.  They  are  all  content  to  scrape  along.  When  it  comes  to  doing  anything,  they 
wait  a  while  first  and  then  sit  back  and  say  they  can't,  like  father. 

Lettie  Davis:     Joe — 

Joe  Edwards:  The  only  way  is  for  me  to  go  and  prove  to  them  that  I  am  right,  that  I  can—.  Oh  if  I 
could  only  have  them!  Now  I  must  go  alone!  It  is  true,  what  they  say,  that  there  is  danger  in  the 
city  for  a  fellow  like  me.  There  is.  There  is  danger  everywhere.  They  love  me  but  they  do  not  be- 
lieve in  me!  They  do  not  believe  in  me  because  I  am  their  son,  because  I  am  a  Thetford  boy.  If  I 
came  from  anywhere  else,— if  I  were  anyone  else's  son,— I  might  have  a  chance— but— it  is  all 
wrong!  It  takes  the  heart  out  of  me.  They  ought  to  back  me  up— me,  me\  Then  I  could  go  and  win! 
Or  stay  and  win,  if  it  were  a  matter  of  staying! 
{Lettie  looks  at  him  shocked  at  his  outburst.) 

Joe  Edzvards:  I  know  they  love  me;  you  need  not  look  at  me  like  that.  I  know  it  better  than  you  do. 
I  want  someone  to  believe  in  me,  if  it's  only  one!  Let  them  hate  me,  but  believe  in  me! 

Lettie  Davis:     Oh  don't,  don't  say  that,  Joe!    {She  protests  with  an  almost  understanding  tenderness.) 

Joe  Edwards:  (He  starts  away  from  her  and  turns  back  impulsively  to  her,  holding  both  hands  out 
to  her);    Don't  you  believe  m  me,  Lettie? 

{She  thinks  he  is  changing  his  mind  or  that  he  may  change  it  and  stay  at  home;  she  is  happy  in 
the  hope,  comes  up  close  to  him  and  takes  his  hands  and  looks  up  into  his  face  affectionately  and  appeal- 
ingly.) 

231 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

Lettie  Davis:     Why  do  you  go? 

{He  looks  quietly  into  her  eyes  a  moment.) 
Joe  Edwards:    Because  I  must. 

{The  f-ather  and  mother  have  been  talking  together  and  watching  the  young  people,  though  not  hearing 
what  they  said.   Joe  returns  to  the  team,  climbs  up  on  the  load  and  silently  starts  the  oxen  up  to  drive  them 
off.   Lettie  goes  over  and  joins  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edwards.) 
George  Edwards:      Well,  mother,  I  reckon  he's  gone. 

{They  go  out,  Joe  driving  the  load  of  hay,  the  father  and  mother  and  Lettie  walking  beside  it.   As  they 
go,  the  Spirit  of  Thetford  appears  stretching  out  her  arms  in  compassion  to  them.) 


232 


a 


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ii 


HOMK.    l-ROM    IHK 


i'ai;l^ant.    "sancho  panza"  takicn  bv  vcunc;  iady 
at  mount  hol.yokk  coi.i.f.gk 


PAGEANT  OF  PATRIOTISM,  TAUNTON,  MASS. 
EPISODE  III. 

Scene  I — Court  of  King  George  III. 

Principals— King  George,  Queen  Charlotte,  Pitt,  Gen.  Gage,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  courtiers,  ladies,  soldiers. 

Flourish  of  trumpets— halberdiers  enter  and  take  place  by  throne.  To  music  of  court  proces- 
sional, King  and  Queen  enter  preceded  by  flower  girls  and  dwarf  jester,  capering.  Company  of  courtiers 
follow  nodding  to  each  other  in  dumb  conversation.  As  soon  as  King  and  Queen  are  seated  on  throne 
tune  of  "British  Grenadiers"  is  heard,  and  enter  Gen.  Gage  with  redcoats,  who  take  position  before 
throne. 

Pitt:  Most  Exalted  Majesty!  It  has  pleased  your  gracious  Highness  to  summon  before  you,  our 
honored  and  valiant  officer  in  the  royal  service,  Thomas  Gage.  He  awaits  your  Majesty's  pleas- 
ure. 

(King  bows.    Gage  salutes  with  sword). 
King:    Our  trusted  and  most  loyal  officer  is  welcome.   (To  Gage.)  You  have  rendered  honorable  and 
distinguished  service  for  the  mighty  kingdom  of  Great  Britain.  (Handing  document.)   Herewith  do  I 
appoint  you  Governor  of  the  royal  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  to  preserve  order  and  suppress 
all  violence  against  the  crown  officials  and  our  sovereign  will. 
Gage:    Wherever  your  Majesty's  laws  are  in  danger,  there  will  the  loyal  soldier  most  firmly  grapple 

with  the  foe. 
King:    America  must  be  preserved  to  the  British  Empire  even  at  the  point  of  the  sword. 
Franklin:    Most  Gracious  Sovereign,  I  humbly  beg  to  intercede  in  behalf  of  the  province  of  Massa- 

235 


A  Handbook  of  American  Pageantry 

chusetts  Bay.  I  cannot  believe  your  Majesty  fully  understands  the  true  spirit  of  the  American 
people.  There  are  no  more  loyal  subjects  in  the  world  than  these  same  colonists  who  are  striving 
for  the  common  rights  of  Englishmen  beyond  the  seas.  I  pray  that  you  will  refrain  from  that  co- 
ercion which  may  lead  to  the  loss  of  your  fair  province.  The  fiery  serpent  of  independence  is  already 
hissing  "Don't  tread  on  me." 

Queen  (blandly  and  innocently):   Do  Americans  still  wear  feathers  in  their  hair?"  (Much  laughter). 

Franklin  (laughing  heartily):  Ah,  no,  most  gracious  Sovereign.  I  am  afraid  the  Yankees  have  used 
all  their  feathers  to  mix  with  tar  to  decorate  the  obnoxious  crown  officials. 

Pitt:  If  I  were  an  American,  as  I  am  an  Englishman,  while  a  foreign  army  was  landed  on  my  shores, 
I  never  would  give  up  my  rights.  Never!  Never!!  Never!!! 

Gage  (astonished) :  Your  defense  of  rebels  in  the  royal  presence  is  most  ill-timed,  my  lord.  Unless  the 
American  provincials  submit  to  Parliament,  I  will  stir  the  Yankee  blood  (gesticulating)  as  a 
barmaid  stirs  the  toddy. 

Franklin:  The  more  you  stir  the  Yankee  blood,  the  warmer  it  will  burn  for  liberty.  (Bowing  himself 
out). 

Archbishop  (restoring  calm) :  Let  peace  resign  here  within  this  sacred  court.  (To  Gage) :  Our  blessing 
and  good  wishes  go  with  you  on  your  brave  expedition.  (Gage  gives  order  to  march.  Troops  exit.) 

Queen  (rising):  Let  us  close  the  day  with  music  and  a  stately  minuet  {music). 


236 


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